Sonic : Jurassic Park
by SilverSilence14
Summary: Sonic Grant has been asked to go visit a mysterious island and put in his personal opinion. But when everything on the island goes extremely wrong. Sonic and others will have to make it off the island, or die trying.
1. Shore of the Inland Sea

**Jurassic Park Cast **

**Main Roles**

Dr. Alan Grant- Sonic the Hedgehog,

Dr. Ellie Sattler- Shelly Mongoose

Ian Malcolm- Shadow the Hedgehog

John Hammond- Big the Cat

Dr. Harding- Silver the Hedgehog

Tim Murphy – Tails Prower

Donald Gennaro- Mighty the Armadillo

Lex Murphy - Cream the Rabbit

Henry Wu- Charmy Bee

John Arnold-Omega

Robert Muldoon- Knuckles the Echidna

**Minor Roles**

Dennis Nedry- Dr. Eggman

Lewis Dodgson- Metal Sonic,

Ed Regis- Jet the Hawk

**Okay I think I hit all the major characters so let's get this story started shall we? Oh by the way the Sonic characters take the last names of the Jurassic characters, so Sonic Grant and Shadow Malcolm or Ivo Nedry –That's Eggman by the way- so yeah, if I use last names, it's cause I want to sound professional and not use first names all the time. Kay now to start the Jurassic awesomeness! This fan story is a little different , not yet anyway, and some of the characters might show when they never were there originally.**

**Okay we are skipping all the science and unlucky dead worker intro and go straight to Grant digging in the dirt all the way in the middle of Snake water Montana.**

* * *

><p><strong>Jurassic Park<strong>

**On The Shore of the Inland Sea**

Dr. Grant lay on his stomach, his nose barely 4 inches from the ground. It was over 100 degrees out. His legs hurt; as did his stomach despite the fact his clothing was padded. His lungs itched from the harsh dry dust in the air, sweat dripped from his fur and onto the water lacking ground. But Grant was oblivious to all the discomfort, he was currently focused on the six-inch square of earth in he was leaning over.

Working with patience, and dental pick and an artist brush, he was slowly exposing the tiny l-shaped fragment of a jawbone. The piece was small barely an inch long and no thicker than his little finger, the teeth on the bone were a row of small, barely visible points. He stopped as bits of bone flaked away; he quickly put some rubber cement on the exposed bone and continued digging away. There was no doubt to it; this was the bone of an infant carnivorous dinosaur. The owner had died over seventy-five million years ago, judging by the size it was only two months old. With luck, Grant would find the rest of the skeleton, and if so, it would be the first complete skeleton of a baby carnivore-

"Hey, Sonic!"

Sonic looked up, blinded by the sunlight, he pulled down his sunglasses and wiped the sweat of his forehead with the back of his arm.

He was lying on an eroded hillside in the badlands just outside of Snakewater, Montana. Beneath the great blue sky, choppy hills of exposed limestone spread for miles in every direction. There was not a tree, a bush, nor any visible life, nothing but barren rock, hot sun, and screeching wind.

Visitors found the land bleak, but when Grant looked around, he saw something entirely. This barren land was the only thing left of a very different, very old lost world. A world which had disappeared over eighty million years ago, in the deep reaches of his mind, Grant saw himself in a warm swampy bayou along the shoreline of a great inland sea. This sea was over thousands of miles wide, extending to the newly made Rocky Mountains all the way Appalachians. All of the American West was underwater.

At that time, there were very few clouds in the sky, the few that were there, were darkened by the smoke of nearby volcanoes. The atmosphere was denser, richer in carbon dioxide. Plants grew quickly along the shoreline. There were no fish here, just clams and snails. Pterosaurs swooped down gracefully from the air to scoop algae from the surface of the water. Predators, few in number, prowled the swampy shores of the lake, hunting, searching, scavenging, waiting, hiding, doing all they could to catch there next meal. Not far from shore, there was a small island, thick in vegetation, this island was a sanctuary for duck-billed dinosaurs, and they laid their eggs there, raising their squeaking young.

Over the millions of years that followed, the pale waters grew shallower and finally disappeared all together. The exposed land buckled and cracked from the intense heat of the sun, and the once lush island became an eroded hillside in northern Montana which Sonic Grant was now digging.

"Hey, Sonic!"

He stood a handsome, strong legged, firm chested hedgehog of twenty-nine. In the distance he heard the chugging of the portable generator, the distant clatter of a jackhammer cutting into dense rock. He saw the kids working around the jackhammer, picking up large pieces of rock and inspecting them for fossils before setting them aside. At the bottom of the hill, he could see the six tipis of his camp, the mess tent flapping in the wind and the trailer that served as their field lab. And he saw his close friend and helper, Shelly Sattler; she was waving to him from the shadow of the field laboratory.

"Visitor!" she called, and pointed east.

Sonic looked towards the said direction and saw a cloud of dust, and the red Ford sedan bouncing over the rutted ground towards the camp. Sonic looked at his watch, perfect timing. On the hill nearby, the kids paused from their work and looked over in interest. They didn't get many visitors around Snakewater and there had been rumors that a lawyer from the EPA – Environmental Protection Agency wanted to see Sonic Grant for some questions.

But Sonic knew that paleontology had in the recent years, taken and unexpected significance of the modern world. The world was changing fast, questions about weather, global warming, the ozone layer; they all seemed unanswerable, except for clues from the past. Information paleontologist could provide. He had already been called as an expert witness twice in the past few years; it wouldn't be a surprise if it happened again.

With a deep breath, Sonic started down the hill to meet the car.

The visitor coughed violently in the white dust as he slammed the door shut. "Bob Morris, EPA," he explained between coughs, extending his hand. "I'm with the San Francisco office." He was a young alligator with a mix of dark and light browns, he looked more like he came from Egypt, but you couldn't judge a person by their looks could you.

Sonic took his hand and introduce himself then said, "You look a little hot. Want a beer?"

"Heaven, yeah." Morris was in his early twenties, wearing a tie and pants from a business suit, not really fit for the weather out here. He carried a briefcase. His wing tipped shoes crunching on the gravel as they made their way to the trailer.

"So is this an Indian reservation?" Morris asked, "Because I saw the tipis as I came over the hill." He pointed at the said structures.

"No," Sonic smirked, "It's just the best, and most efficient way to live ou here." Sonic went on to explain that when the team had first arrived, back in 1978, they had come with the latest in tent technology. But the tents always blew over in the wind, they tried others but with the same results. Finally they put up tipis, these were more comfortable and had more space inside, and even better, they stood against the wind. "Those are Blackfoot tipis, built around four poles," Grant said, "Sioux tipis are built around three but since this land was once Blackfoot territory we just thought…"

"Uh-huh," Morris said, "That is fascinating, and very fitting." He squinted in the sun and looked around, shaking his head, "How long have you been out here in this crazy heat?"

"Hmmm, about sixty cases," Sonic pondered. When Morris gave him a confused look Sonic laughed lightly, "The kids here have a tendency to measure time in beer, we started in June with a hundred cases. It was kind of annoying at first, but it's pointless to argue with the kids so…..I think we've gone through about sixty so far."

"Sixty-three if you want to get exact Grant." Shelly Sattler smiled as they reached the trailer. Sonic looked over with slight amusement to see Morris gaping at Sattler. Shelly was wearing a pair of cut-off jeans and a work shirt tied at her midriff. She was just about as old as Sonic, twenty-eight, but she still looked as good as she did when Sonic first met her nine years ago. Her pale yellow fur was slightly sun kissed, he dark red hair pulled back in a high pony-tail.

"Shelly keeps us going," Sonic grinned, introducing her, "She is very good at what she does, no one questions her."

"What does she do?" Morris asked.

"Paleobotany," Shelly said, "And I also do standard field preps. Sonic is always saying how lost he would be if I wasn't here to help him."

Sonic smiled, "And I will never deny it." He opened the door to the trailer and they all went inside.

The air conditioning in the trailer only brought the intense heat down to eighty-five degrees, but it seemed refreshing after standing outside in the midday heat. Sonic unzipped his jacket, letting the cooler air fly over his fur. The trailer had a sequence of long wooden tables, all with tiny bone specimens neatly laid out, all tagged and labeled. Farther along were ceramic dishes, there was a strong odor of vinegar.

Morris glanced at the bones, "I thought dinosaurs were big." He said. Grant let out a small sigh and looked at the ceiling. People these days, everything had to be big. Shelly stepped in, knowing all too well how tired Sonic got of explaining things. "They were," Shelly said, "But all the bones here are from babies. Snakewater in primarily important, because of the number of nesting sites that have been found here, until we started working here there have been hardly any dinosaur infants found. Only one nest had ever been found, in the Gobi Desert. We've discovered dozens of hadrosaur nests, complete with eggs and bones of infants. "

While Sonic walked to the refrigerator, she showed Morris the acid baths, which were used to dissolve away the limestone from the delicate bones of the infants.

"They look like chicken bones." Morris noted as he peered into the ceramic dishes.

"Yes," she said, "They are very bird-like."

Morris glanced out the window, "And what about those?" he said, pointing outside to piles of large bones, all wrapped in plastic."

"Rejects," Shelly explained, "Those are bones that are too brittle to study when we took them out of the ground. In the older days we would just discard them, but now we send them to labs for genetic testing."

"Genetic testing?" Morris echoed.

"Here you go," Grant said, thrusting a beer into Morris's hand. He gave another to Shelly. She chugged hers, throwing her slender neck back. Morris stared.

"We're pretty informal here." Sonic chuckled. "Want to step into my office?"

"Sure," Morris shrugged. Grant led him to the end of the trailer, where there was a torn couch, a sagging chair, and a battered end-table. Sonic dropped down onto the couch, which creaked and exhaled a cloud of chalky dust. He leaned back, thumped his boots up on the end-table, and gestured for Morris to have a seat in the chair, "Make yourself comfortable."

Sonic was a professor of paleontology at the University of Denver, and he was one of the foremost researchers in his field, but he had never been comfortable with social niceties. He saw himself as an outdoor man; he knew all the _important _work in paleontology happened outside, with your hands. And so Sonic had little impatience with academics and the curators of the museum which he had come to call the Teacup Dinosaur Hunters, and he took some pains to reserve himself in the dress and the behavior of the Teacup Dinosaur Hunters, even delivering lectures in jeans and his trademark red and white sneakers.

Sonic watched as Morris primly brushed off his seat before sitting down in the chair. He opened his briefcase, rummaged through his papers, and glanced back at Shelly, who was lifting bones with tweezers from the acid at the other end of the trailer, paying know what seemed no attention to them. "You're probably wondering why I'm here."

Sonic nodded, "It's a long way to come Mr. Morris."

"Well," Morris said, "to get to the point, the EPA is concerned about the activities of the Hammond Foundation…"

Shelly listened quietly as she worked. She could hear the kid Morris and Sonic talking about the Hammond Foundation, run by John Hammond an older man who was a dinosaur fanatic. He had been funding Sonic Grant's dig for the last five years, about thirty thousand dollars a year. But what from what she was hearing, John Hammond had only been funding digs that were up north and north alone. He had also had been buying mass quantities of amber and now had the largest personal stock in the world. Morris wanted to know what connected the amber with the funding of the dig sites. Of course Grant didn't know. So Morris went on to say that Hammond had also bought an island not far from Costa Rica called Isle Nublar and had been buying some half million dollar genetic equipment and sending it to the island. He went on to say that Grant had been paid a consultants fee for the island production. Grant said he was paid, but it had nothing to do with the island.

"Have you heard of InGen?"

Shelly glanced over slightly as Sonic gave Morris a confused look and explained he had never heard of the corporation. Morris asked if a man named Mighty Gennaro had called, Sonic said yes. Apparently Gennaro had been the legal counsel for InGen.

Morris was curious to what Gennaro had wanted, so Sonic went on to explain that Gennaro wanted to know everything there was about infant dinosaurs. He had offered fifty thousand dollars for the feeding habits, social behavior, and other things about juvenile dinosaurs. Claiming he was making a museum for children and he wanted to exhibit baby dinosaurs. Sometimes Gennaro called in the middle of the night, asking questions that could have waited till morning. Finally he just got on Sonic's nerve and Sonic called the whole thing off, settling for twelve thousand. But all of this had happened years ago, why did it matter now? What did it have to do with Hammond? John Hammond was just a rich dinosaur enthusiast.

"Look," Sonic said, "If the EPA is so concerned about John Hammond and what he's doing-the dinosaur sites in the north, the amber purchases the island in Costa Rica-why don't you just ask him about it?"

"At the moment we can't," Morris sighed.

"Why not?"

"Because we don't have any evidence of wrongdoing, "Morris said, "But personally, I think it's clear that John Hammond is evading the law."

Shelly looked over, slightly surprised, she watched Sonic shift slightly but showed no other signs. Morris went on to explain, that Hammond was the head of InGen, and many technical things and expensive equipment, and other things that really didn't interest here. The phone rang and Shelly leaned over to grab it, "Hello?"

"Hello, may I speak to Dr. Sonic Grant please?" it was a young woman.

"He's in a meeting right now. Can he call you back?" Sattler replied. The woman agreed, gave her name, number and where she was from then hung up.

Shelly shrugged and walked over to the two gentlemen who were just finishing their conversation.

"One last thing," Morris said, "Suppose InGen wasn't really making a museum exhibit. Is there anything else they could have done with the information you provided them."

"Sure," Sonic laughed, "They could feed a baby dinosaur."

Morris laughed as well, "A baby dinosaur. That'd be something to see." Morris then stuck out his hand. "Well, thanks again for your help."

Sonic took it, "Take it easy driving back." He watched for a moment as Morris walked back towards his car and then closed the trailer door.

Sonic said, "What do you think?"

Shelly shrugged, "Naïve."

"You like the part where John Hammond is the evil arch villain?" Grant laughed, "John Hammond is about as dangerous as Walt Disney. By the way who called?"

"Oh," Shelly said, she jabbed her thumb towards the phone, "it was a woman named Alice Levin. She works at Columbia Medical Center. You know her?"

Grant thought for a moment, and then shook his head, "No."

"Well, it was about identifying some remains. She wants you to call her back right away."


	2. Skeleton

Jurassic Park

Skeleton

Shelly brushed away a strand of red hair as she turned her attention back to the acid baths. She had twelve in a row, all at a different strength ranging from 5 to 30 percent. She had to keep her eye on the stronger ones though, lest the acid dissolve the limestone and begin eating away at the bone as well.

She listened idly as Sonic spoke on the phone. "Miss Levin? This is Sonic Grant. What is this about a….You have a what? A what?" he began to chuckle, "Oh, I don't think that is possible Miss Levin…..No, I really don't have time at the moment, I'm sorry…..Well…Fine, I'll take a look at it, but I'm pretty sure it is a basilisk lizard. But…..Yes, you can do that. Alright. Send it now." Sonic hung up and shook his head, "My gosh people these days, they'll say anything to fit their theories and fantasies."

Shelly looked over, "What's it about."

"Some lizard she's trying to identify." Sonic shrugged, "Say's there they were biting infants and young children. She is sending the fax over now." He walked over to fax machine, "Speaking of identifying, I have a new find for you. A good one."

"Yeah?"

Grant nodded. "Founded it just before that kid showed up, on the South Hill, horizon four. Infant velociraptor jaw and complete dentition, so there's no question about the identity. The site looks pretty undisturbed, so we might even get a complete skeleton."

"That's fantastic," Shelly grinned, "How young?"

"Very young," Grant said, "Two, maybe four months at most."

"And it's defiantly a velociraptor?"

"Defiantly, maybe things are going to finally get better."

Shelly smiled and threw her arms around Sonic, "Sonic that's fantastic!"

For the last two years, the team had been digging around Snakewater; the team had excavated only duckbilled hadrosaurs. There was already plenty of evidence that there were vast herds of plant eating dinosaurs, roaming the area in groups of ten to twenty thousand. But there was just one question: where were the predators?

They expected them to be rare of course. Scientist estimate there is a least one predator for every four hundred herbivores. That meant a herd of ten thousand would only support twenty-five tyrannosaurs. So it was unlikely there would be any remains of a large predator.

But where were the smaller ones? Snakewater had dozens of nesting sites- some of them literally littered in trampled eggshells. And many dinosaurs ate eggs. Animals like _Dromaeosaurus, Oviraptor, Velociraptor,_ and_ Coelurus_- these predators three to six feet tall- they must have been here in abundance.

But they have found none so far.

Perhaps Sonic was right; the velociraptor skeleton might mean their luck had changed. And an infant of all things! Shelly knew that one of Sonic's dreams was to study infant behavior in a carnivorous dinosaur; he had already studied the infant herbivores. Perhaps this was the first step towards that dream. She walked towards the ceramic dishes, "You must be pretty excited," Shelly said.

Grant didn't respond.

"I said, you must be excited," Shelly repeated.

"Good Heaven," Sonic gasped. He was staring at the fax.

...…

Shelly looked over Sonic' shoulder at the X-ray, and breathed out slowly, "You think it's an _amassicus?"_

_"_Yes," Sonic said, "Or a _triassicus. _The skeleton is so light."

"But it's no lizard," she said.

"No," Sonic replied. "This is defiantly not a lizard; there hasn't been a three toed lizard on this planet for over two hundred million years."

Shelly's first thought was that it was a hoax- a skillful hoax, but a hoax. Every biologist knew that there was always the threat of a hoax out there. The most famous hoax the Piltdown man, had gone undetected for years, the perpetrator is still unknown. Some dinosaurs were claimed to be hoaxes and turned out to be genuine, while the genuine ones turned out to be….

The point of a hoax was to make the scientist see exactly what they were supposed to see, and to Shelly's trained eye, the X-ray image of the lizard was exactly correct. The three toed foot was well balanced, with the medical claw the smallest. The tail showed forty-five vertebrae. It was a _Procompsognathus._

"Could this X-ray be faked?"

"I don't know." Grant shook his head, "It's almost impossible to fake an X-ray and _Procompsognathus _is an odd animal, even people familiar with dinosaurs don't know what it is."

Sattler looked at the note, "It says they found the animal on a beach near Costa Rica….Apparently a howler monkey was eating it…..oh and I guess it bit a young girl."

Grant shook his head again, "I doubt that, this creature was so small and light, it probably was a scavenger, only feeding on dead animals. And you can tell the size" –he did a rough estimate- "it's about a foot long, about as big as a chicken. Even a child would look fearsome to it. It might bite an infant, but defiantly not a small child,"

"Can it be real?" Sattler asked. Grant just shrugged in response.

There was no telling if the X-ray was real of not. Species claimed extinct over the years have showed up all over the world. Living fossils of the ancient world, crocodiles, alligators, and sharks were all examples of these.

The phone rang again and Sonic reached for it, "That's probably Alice Levin again," he said, "Let's see if she'll send us the actual animal." He answered it and gave Shelly a surprised look. "Yes, I'll hold for Mr. Hammond. Yes. Of course."

Shelly crossed her arms, "Hammond what does he want?"

Sonic shook his head then spoke into the phone, "Yes, Mr. Hammond. Yes it's good to hear from you too…..Yes….Yes…." He looked at Shelly. "Oh you did? Oh yes? Is that right?"

He placed his hand over the mouthpiece and said, "Still as peculiar as ever. Shell you have got to hear this."

He pushed the speaker button, and the sound of a rapidly speaking raspy old man filled her ears. "- whole lot of an annoyance from the some EPA fellow, seems to have gone off, all on his own, running around the country talking to people and stirring up things. I don't suppose anybody's come around to see you way out there in Montana?"

"As a matter of fact," Sonic said, "Somebody had stopped by not too long ago."

Hammond snorted, "I was afraid of that. Smart- alec kid named Morris?"

"Yes his name was Morris."

"He's gone to see all our consultants," Hammond huffed, "he went to see Shadow Malcolm the other day-you know the mathematician from Texas? That was when I first heard of this kid. Did he bother you? Disrupt your work?"

Sonic frowned, "No, no he didn't he bother me."

"Blast," Hammond cursed in the distance, then his voice got louder again, "Well that's too bad, in a way. I have my lawyers all over the EPA, and the head of the program claims he had no idea there was an investigation going on. Bloody whatever! I think that damn kid is trying to get down to Costa Rica, poke around, and get onto our island. You know we have an island down there?"

Sonic looked over at Shelly his eyes narrowing, "No, I didn't know."

"Oh yes, bought it a couple years back, five or six, I forget how many. Called Isle Nublar-big island, hundred miles offshore. Going to a biological preserve. Wonderful place. Tropical jungle. You know, you ought to see it Dr. Grant."

"Sounds interesting," Sonic sighed, "but actually-"

"It's almost finished now, you know," Hammond said, "O have sent you some material about it. Did you get my material?"

"No, but we're pretty far from-"

"Maybe it will come today, look over it. You'll absolutely love it. The island is just plain beautiful. Construction has been going on for over thirty months now. You can imagine. Big park. Opens in September next year. Ou really ought to see it."

"It sounds wonderful, but-"

"As a matter of fact," Hammond said, "I'm going to insist you see it, Dr. Grant. I know you'll find its right up your alley. You will find it fascinating, trust me."

"I'm in the middle of-" Sonic began.

"Say, I'll tell you what," Hammond cut in, again. It seemed this idea just had occurred to him. "I'm having some of the people consulted for us, to go down there this weekend. Spend a few days and look it over. All at our expense of course, it would be terrific if you could give us your opinion."

"But what opinion could I possibly give-"

"Oh trust me, as I said earlier its right up your alley."

"No I couldn't," Sonic said, "You see, I just found a new skeleton and-"

"Yes, okay, fine, but I still think you should come-"Hammond said, not really listening to the few words Sonic had managed to get in.

"And we just got evidence of a living a _Procompsognathus_."

"A what?" Hammond asked, slowing down, "I really didn't quite get that, did you say a living _Procompsognathus_?"

"That's right," Sonic said, grateful to get a word in, "It's a biological specimen, a partial fragment of an animal collected in Central America. A living animal."

"I say," Hammond said, "A living animal, how fascinating."

"Yes," Sonic said, "So as you can see I am unable to visit your island.

"I see," Hammond cleared his throat, "Ummm, tell me Dr. Grant. When did you umm, receive the specimen exactly?"

"Just today."

"Today. I see. Today. I see. Yes." John Hammond cleared his throat again.

Sonic looked over at Shelly, and mouthed, _What's going on?_

Shelly shook her head. _Sounds upset._

Sonic mouthed, _See if Morris is still here._

She went to the window but Morris was long gone. She turned back. On the speaker, Hammond coughed, "You haven't told anyone about this have you?"

"No."

"Good, that's good. Well. Yes. I'll tell you frankly, Dr. Grant, I'm having a little problem about this island and the EPA thing is coming as just the wrong time. Well, you see, we've had our problems and some delays….Let's just say that I have a lot of pressure on me right now, and I like you to look at this island for me. Give me your opinion. I'll be paying you the usual weekend consultant rate of twenty thousand a day. That'd be sixty thousand for three days. And could you spare Dr. Shelly Sattler, I would love to have her opinion too. She will also be paid the same amount. We do really need a botanist. What'd you say?"

Sonic was speechless, and Shelly was as well. "Well, t-that, would be enough money to fund our dig for the next two summers, M-Mr. H-Hammond."

"Good, good, would that work?"

Sonic slowly nodded, then realized he was on the phone and said, "Yes, y-yes," He coughed, "Yes that would work just fine."

"Good, good." Hammond said, relaxation in his voice now, "I want this to be easy…..Now, I'll send you a plane that will land in Choteau. It's only a two hour drive from where you are. You be there at five p.m. tomorrow and I'll be waiting for you. Take you right to the island. Can you and Dr. Sattler make that plane? Is it enough time?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah that seems like enough time."

"Good, pack lightly. You don't need passports. I'm looking forward to seeing you. See you tomorrow." Hammond said quickly, and then he hung up.

...….

Mighty Gennaro grumbled as he picked up the phone and began dialing a number. Gennaro's boss, Daniel Ross, was very unhappy about all the problems that were forming.

_"We can't trust Hammond anymore. He's under too much pressure, the EPA, the delays of the resort, the investors. Too many workers have died, and the most recent one left family members furious. Not to mention all the rumors about the island. And now there is this living whatever walking around._

_Gennaro frowned, "It could be nothing."_

_"It could be, but now….." Ross shifted in his seat, "One of our primary investors called about a new lizard biting children. Right in the area the other animal was claimed to be found."_

_"New lizard?"_

_"Yes, we can't risk anything; we need to have that island inspected right away."_

_Gennaro looked out the window, " But you know Hammond, he is going to claim there is nothing wrong."_

_Ross nodded, "I know, that's why I have asked him to have daily inspections every three weeks. The first group to go down this weekend is a paleontologist, and paleobotanist, and a mathematician. I'd like you to head down as well."_

_"Alright."_

The phone stopped ringing and a voice emitted from the speaker. "Grant here."

Gennaro switched to pleasant mode, "Hi, Dr. Grant, this is Mighty Gennaro. I'm the general counsel for InGen. We talked a few years back, I don't know if you-"

"I remember," Grant replied bluntly.

"Well I just got off the phone with Mr. Hammond, and he says you are coming down to our island tomorrow. We also will be having our mathematician from AU come down, do you know him?"

"Hammond mention one,"

Gennaro nodded, "Good, I'll be coming down myself as well. I would like to extend my thanks for doing this for us; it means more than you know."

"Well the money we are getting will help fund the dig….."

Gennaro nodded again, "Yes, yes, also uh, Mr. Hammond mentioned that you had a specimen for a ….Proco….Proca…"

"A _Procompsognathus_." Grant said.

"Yes, yes, one of those," Gennaro said, good heaven how does he say that word, Gennaro thought, and, "Mr. Hammond was very excited about it, and was hoping you could bring it with you."

"Well I don't have it," Grant said, "I just have an X-ray; a woman at the Columbia University called me."

"Uh-huh," Gennaro twiddled with the phone cord, "Well could you give me the details then and I can have them send the specimen down to the island. I'm pretty sure you would want to study it."

Grant gave him the details, "Well, that's fine Dr. Grant," Gennaro said, "My regards to Dr. Sattler. I look forward to meeting you and him tomorrow." And Gennaro hung up.

Plans

"Hey this just arrived," Shelly said the next day, as she walked into the trailer with a thick envelope in her hand. "One of the kids just brought it after coming in from town."

Sonic looked at the envelope and notice the blue and white sticker with and InGen logo imprinted on it. Tearing it open all Sonic found was a bound stack of paper. Pulling it out, he realized it was blue prints. The label said: ISLA NUBLAR GUEST FACILITIES (SAFARI LODGE FULL SET)

"What the heck is this?" He said. He was a paleontologist not a construction worker. He flipped open the book and a paper fell out.

Shelly picked up the paper, "Dear Sonic, and Shelly, as you can imagine we don't have all the formal materials yet. But this should give you an idea on the project. I think it is just all fascinating." She paused as Sonic looked at the blue prints with mock fascination, chuckling she continued, "Looking forward to discussing this with you. Hope you can join us! Regards, John aka Big? Hmm, must be a nickname or something."

Sonic flipped through the papers, "I seriously don't get it, these are all architectural plans, how is this supposed to give us an idea on the project." He kept flipping nothing but numbers, codes, and more blue prints, "Looks paranoid to me."

Shelly shrugged, "Maybe there is a reason."

Then Sonic flipped onto a map. On it was a teardrop shape, standing for the island, apparently Isle Nublar. To a small corner of the island there were boxes standing for buildings, all with names on them, "Visitor Arrivals" "Visitor Center" "Hammond Res," "Power and Support" "Safari Lodge"

"Sure looks like a resort to me," Shelly stated. She eyed the codes that Sonic was now looking through, "Is there any key for the codes."

Sonic flipped through rapidly but found nothing, "They must have taken it out," He flipped back to the map. He pointed at the said map, "Hey look at the way these buildings are designed. And look the island is split into six divisions." Sonic was right, there were six, and all separated from a road by a concrete moat. Outside each moat was a fence with a little lightning sign by them. "This looks like stuff for a zoo

"Odd," Shelly said, "Why would a resort have electric fences and concrete moats? And look there is usually a road by the moat, and they are higher up, so you can see over the fences."

"Like a zoo," Sonic repeated.

"But, look at some of these structures Sonic," Some of these moats are over thirty feet wide, and the buildings; they are all made with concrete. It's like a massive military fortification."

Sonic nodded, some of the blue prints showed the truth, concrete buildings and small windows. Just like the Nazi pillboxes from the old war films.

At that moment, as if right on cue, they heard a muffled explosion, and Sonic set the papers aside, "We better get back to work.

...…

"Fire!"

A small vibration shook the ground, and yellow lines traced across the computer screen. This time the resolution was perfect and Sonic Grant, had a glimpse of the skeleton, beautifully defined, the long neck arched. It was unquestionably an infant velociraptor, and it looked in absolutely perfect-

The screen went blank.

Sonic growled and Shelly and a couple other kids laughed.

"I hate computers," Sonic said squinting in the sun, "What happened now?"

Shelly laughed harder and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You touched it Sonic."

The kid in front of them laughed, "Naw, we just lost the input for a second," He typed on a few keys, "Just give me a minute." The kid bent to look at the tangle of wires at the portable battery attached to the computer. The computer had been placed on a beer carton and was sitting at Hill Four, not too far from the device they called Thumper.

Thumper was a device that fired soft lead bullets into the ground around the site. Then from the ground it sends out a series of waves, which transmit an image similar to an X-ray. But even though Thumper had been working perfectly in the lab, it varied in the field.

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the old-fashion way," Sonic frowned.

One of the kids overheard him, "Aw, Grant."

"Look," Sonic said, "I have a plane to catch and I want the fossil protected before I go." Sonic knew all too well that when people looked at the badlands, the saw it as a always changing landscape. But the answer was just erosion, literally, right before your eyes. All day you could hear pebbles falling down the hills, and wind slowly digging into the rock. A rainstorm, even a small one could wash Sonic' fossil away.

"How much longer?" Sonic said.

"We got it now, Grant, It's not bad."

The image reappeared again, and Sonic went back to inspecting the fossil. Yes, it was in almost perfect condition, the right leg and foot were twisted slightly, and raised up above the back-bone.

"It looks kind of distorted," one of the kids said, "But I don't think it's the computer."

"No," Sonic said, "Just time, lots and lots of time."

"Doesn't look very fearsome," another kid said.

"He wasn't," Sonic said, "Not until he grew up anyway." This baby probably ran around, scavenged and feed the dead carcasses from the animals that the adults had caught. The babies were probably cute.

But an adult velociraptor was another matter entirely. It must have been quite a site, to see a whole pack of the chasing another much larger animal across the plains, working as a team and taking the animal down. Tearing at the neck, and slashing the belly with the 6 inch long toe-claw….

"We're running out of time," Shelly said, bringing him back to reality.

Sonic gave the instructions for the trench while Shelly lashed down the tarp over the fossil. Sonic helped her pound down the final stake. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Shelly quickly looked at her watch.

"What time?" Sonic asked.

"Well," Shelly paused, "We got to go, if we're going to get to Choteau by five."


	3. Meeting Others

Hammond

Mighty's secretary bustled into his office with a new suitcase, tags and all. "You know Mr. Gennaro," She scolded, "When you forget to pack for a trip, something tells me you really don't want to go."

"Maybe you right," Mighty said, "I'll be missing my kid's birthday." It was true, Sunday was his daughter Melody's birthday, and his wife, Margret, had invited twenty screaming five year olds, as well as a clown and a magician. His wife was not happy to hear that he would miss it. Neither was Melody.

"Well," His secretary huffed, "I did the best I could on short notice. There's running shoes your size, khaki shirts and pants, a shaving kit, and a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt in case it gets cold. There is a car down stairs to take you to the airport; you need to leave now to make the flight."

Mighty quickly thanked her, and walked down the hall, tearing tags off the suitcase. As he passed the glass door of the conference room, Dan Ross left the table and joined him in his walk.

"Have a good trip," Ross said, "But let's get this clear, I don't know what is going on down there at the island, or how bad it is. But if there is a problem with the island, burn it to the ground, and I mean it."

"Ross…..We are talking about a big investment here."

"Don't hesitate. Don't think about it. Just do it. Do you hear me, do you understand?"

Mighty nodded, "I hear you…." He said, "But Hammond"-

"Forget Hammond," Ross said.

...…..

"My boy," the familiar raspy voice said, "How have you been? It has been a long time."

"Very well sir," Mighty replied. He leaned back in the padded chair of the jet that was now flying over the Rocky Mountains.

"You never call anymore," Hammond said, "I've missed you, tell me Mighty, how is your lovely wife?"

"She's fine. We have a little girl now."

"Oh how wonderful. Children are such a delight; she'll get a kick out of our new park in Costa Rica."

Gennaro stared at Hammond; he had forgotten how large he was. He swung his legs to and fro like a young child. Even though he was nothing of such, he was like, what? Seventy-five, seventy-six? Something like that, after all Gennaro hadn't seen the man in five years.

Gennaro eyed Hammond for a moment, thinking how evasive Hammond was. He seemed to forget the whole trip was about a law firm that had been forced onto him; instead he acted as if they were engaged in a purely social outing.

"Is the park prepared for visitors," Gennaro asked.

"Well not officially," Hammond replied, "But the hotel is built, so there is a place to stay…"

"And the animals?"

"Yes, yes all the animals are in place."

Gennaro said, "I remember you were hoping for twelve total…."

"Oh no, we are far beyond that. We have two hundred and thirty-eight animals, Mighty."

"Two hundred and thirty-eight?"

Hammond giggled, pleased at the sight of Gennaro's reaction, "You can't imagine them, we have herds of them, Mighty, _herds."_

"Two hundred and thirty-eight…how many species?"

"Fifteen different species, Mighty."

"That's…That's incredible, John," Gennaro gaped, "That's just fantastic. And what about everything else, the computers, the systems, the facilities?"

"All of it, all the latest sate of the art technology." Hammond smiled, "As you can see, Mighty, my dear boy, there is nothing to be concerned about."

"So you're just having normal start up delays?"

"Yes, I mean what do you expect, with all the animals and all the computers you're bound to run into snags," Hammond stated, "Have you ever heard of a major computer program running on schedule for its first run? I don't think so. Also this whole tour has to put everything on hold; we can't have constructions going while we have guests. So to put it in short, yes, we are only having normal start up delays."

Gennaro drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair, "I hear there were accidents during construction."

Hammond waved his hand lazily, "Yes, yes, three construction workers died. Two in the construction of the cliff road, and the other died in a earthmover accident this past January, but we haven't had any more accidents in months." He placed a hand on the younger man's arm, "My dear boy trust me, when I say that everything on the island is going well. Then everything on the island is _fine."_

The plane intercom clicked, "Buckle your seatbelts please. We're landing in Choteau."

…

Choteau

"I hate waiting for the money men."

A tumble weed flew across the cracked concrete. Sonic stood with Shelly near the Jeep and waited patiently while the sleek Grumman jet circled around to land.

Shelly shrugged at Sonic's comment, "It goes with the job dear, you think you'd be used to it by now.

The jet landed, and rolled its way over to them. Shelly shouldered her bag and together she and Sonic walked towards the jet. As it came to a stop a stewardess opened to door.

Even though it was a rather luxurious jet, Sonic was surprised how cramped in was inside. He had to bend over to shake Hammond's hand, "Mr. Hammond."

"Oh no, my dear boy, that's to formal," Hammond smiled, "Call me Big, that's what all my close associates call me." Sonic glanced quickly over at Shelly who shrugged then nodded awkwardly.

"Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler," Hammond said, "It is very nice for you to join us, let me introduce my associate, Mighty Gennaro."

Gennaro was a strong, muscular armadillo, in his mid-thirties, wearing an Armani suit and wide framed sunglasses. Sonic disliked him on sight. He shook hands quickly and sat down. When Shelly shook hands, Gennaro said in surprise, "You're a woman!"

"These things happen," she said coolly and Sonic thought: She doesn't like him either.

Hammond looked over at Gennaro, "You know of course what Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler do. They are paleontologists, they dig up dinosaurs." Then the old man giggled, as if the idea was absolutely absurd.

No sooner was everyone seated the plane began to move.

"You'll have to excuse us," Hammond sighed, "But we are in a little hurry. Mighty thinks it is important to get right on down to the island."

Sonic nodded, and leaned back in his chair as the pilot announced four hours flying time to Dallas, where the plane would refuel go on to Costa Rica by the following morning.

"How long will we be in Costa Rica?" Sattler asked.

"Depends," Gennaro responded.

"Take my word," Hammond said, "We'll be there no longer than forty-eight hours."

Sonic tightened his seat belt buckle, "What kind of island is this anyway? I haven't heard anything about it. Is it some kind of secret?"

Hammond smiled, "In a way. We've been very careful not to let any word get out. No one will know until we announce it. And I assure you; it will surprise and delight the world."

….

Target of Opportunity

The corporation of Biosyn, in Cupertino California, never called an emergency meeting for their board of directors. Yet here they were now. Ten directors, all sitting impatiently in the conference room. It was 9 p.m. They had been talking among themselves, but slowly had become silent. Shuffling papers, and pointlessly checking their watches.

"What are we waiting for?" one of them asked.

"One more, " Lewis Dodgson said, " We need one more."

"We need a quorum?" another director asked.

"Yes," Dodgson said, "We do."

That shut the directors up for a moment. Having a quorum meant the board was going to be asked a very important question. Dodgson didn't really want to have this meeting. But his boss said everything depended on this meeting…

This was Dodgson. Depending on who you asked, he was famous for being the most aggressive geneticist of his generation, that, or the most reckless. A reporter once stated he had the stare and a heart as "cold as metal" so his nickname was born. Metal Dodgson… and he liked it.

Biosyn and InGen were both competitors. They were in the race to see who could advance to most in the study and practice of genetics. Biosyn had successfully made a new, pale trout under the contract to the Department of Fish and Game of the State of Idaho. The trout were easier to spot in the streams, and was said to represent a step forward in angling. (At least, it eliminated to complaints of Fish and Game Department that there were no fish in the streams.) The fact was that the pale trout died of sunburn, and that its flesh was soggy and rather tasteless, was never mentioned. Biosyn was still working on that but-

InGen, yes InGen was working on something much better, much more magnificent, and much grander. And that is what the board of directors is here to discuss.

Suddenly the quorum stepped in, a young man of twenty; he sat down in his seat. Dodgson was now ready, and he didn't waste a second to start. He immediately stood.

"Gentlemen, we are here tonight to consider a target of opportunity." Dodgson said, "InGen."

Dodgson quickly explained the background of InGen. Its start up and the Japanese investors, the purchase of three supercomputers, and the unusual donations to zoos around the world.

"Despite all the clues," Dodgson frowned, "We still had no idea what InGen was up to. The company seemed only interested in animals and things from the past. People involved in paleontology and DNA phylogeneticists and so on."

Dodgson then smiled deviously, "Then in 1987, InGen bought an obscure company called Millipore Plastic Products in Nashville, Tennessee. This was a company that had recently patented a new type of plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell. This plastic could be shaped into an egg to store and hatch chicken embryos. A about a year after the company was formed; InGen bought the entire output of this millipore plastic or its own use."

"Dr. Dodgson, this is all very educational-"

"At the same time," Dodgson cut off, "Isle Nublar was purchased and construction began. This involved massive earthworks, including a shallow lake two miles long placed close to the center of the island. Plans for resort facilities have also been made. It appears that InGen is building a private zoo of large dimensions."

One of the directors leaned forward, "Dodgson…..So _what_?"

"The thing is," Dodgson frowned, "This is no common zoo. They seemed to have managed to clone animals from the past that have been extinct."

"What animals?"

"Animals that hatch from eggs, and requires a lot of space in a zoo."

"What Animals!"

Dodgson grinned evilly, "Dinosaurs. They are cloning dinosaurs." Dodgson thought: Pause for effect.

It worked, for the room was filled with stunned silence.

Creating dinosaurs was impossible. Not only was it impossible to find DNA of a dinosaur. (Because there was no known dinosaur DNA in the world.) Even if someone had found dinosaur DNA, they would need time and money, because it would be a difficult and most likely impossible task. But I could be attempted, if someone was willing to try.

Apparently, InGen had decided to try.

"What they have done," Dodgson said, breaking the silence. "Is build the greatest single tourist attraction to mankind. Zoos have become extremely popular over the few years. For this zoo, InGen can charge whatever they want. Two thousand dollars a day, ten thousand, and people will pay it. Then there is the merchandising. The picture books, T-shirts, video games, caps, stuffed toy, comic book, and coffee mugs, and pets."

"Pets?"

"Of course, why not? If they can make real dinosaurs, they can make pygmy dinosaurs as household pets. I mean come on, who wouldn't want to have a dinosaur as a pet. InGen could sell millions of them. And then InGen could design them to eat only InGen food.

"Damn," somebody said.

"My point exactly," Dodgson said, "This zoo will be the centerpiece of a massive enterprise."

"So what stops us from creating our own dinosaurs?"

"Nothing, except they have a five year start. It will be impossible to catch up by the end of the century."

He paused, "Of course we could obtain our some dino DNA. And with enough modification we could make them ours."

"We can obtain dinosaur's DNA?"

He paused yet again, "I believe we can, yes."

Somebody cleared their throat, "There would be nothing illegal about it…..

"Oh no," Dodgson said quickly, "Nothing illegal. I'm talking about legitimate source. A disgruntled employee, or some trash improperly disposed of, something like that."

"Do you have that source?"

"I do," Dodgson said, "But because of some problems in InGen, my source must act within these, next twenty-four hours."

A long silence filled the room; some directors looked at the secretary, taking notes/

"I honestly don't see the need for a formal resolution on this," Dodgson said, "Just a sense of the room, as to decide whether or not you feel I should proceed….."

Slowly every head in the room, nodded.

Nobody spoke, nothing went on record. They just nodded silently.

"Thank you for coming gentlemen." Dodgson flashed a mischievous grin, "I'll take it from here.

...…

Dodgson wove through the crowds of people, all trying to make their way around the airport. His client was to leave soon and he had to make sure all things were set and ready.

The man he was looking for was sitting at a table in the airport restaurant. The man looked over as he approached.

"Bout time you got here," He said, "My flight leaves in ten minutes.

Dodgson frowned, "I just want to go over the details."

The man rolled his eyes, "Whatever Dodgson, just so me the money."

Dodgson growled, he had been planning this for two years now, and every meeting he had with this man, the more obnoxious he got. He picked up his briefcase and handed it to the man. The man quickly grabbed it and opened it up a crack, "That's all of it?"

"Only have, you'll get the other seven hundred fifty thousand when you get back with the embryos."

"How do I transport them?"

Dodgson held up a large can of shaving cream. And the man looked at it.

"That's it?"

"That's it." Dodgson quickly showed him how it worked

"They may check my luggage."

Dodgson handed it to the man and he pushed the top. Sure enough, shaving cream came out, "Hmmm, not that bad." He said whipping the cream off with a napkin.

Dodgson smirked, "The can is just a little heavier that's all." His team had been working round the clock to design it.

"How much coolant is inside?"

"Enough for thirty-six hours, you should be back by then."

The man flashed a look, "That all depends on your boat captain, make sure he had a small cooler on the boat."

"I will,"

"Oh and make sure they come in at the east dock, not the north dock. That's the main dock, were the big supply boats come in. The east dock is a small utility dock."

"I will."

The man put the can in his bag," Now let's just review the bidding real quick."

Metal Dodgson growled, "The deal is the same, how many times must we go over this? Fifty thousand for the delivery of each embryo and if they are useful, an additional fifty thousand each."

"Cool, just checking." The man pushed away from the table.

"When will you be back in San Jose?"

"Probably Sunday."

Dodgson paused, "You sure you know how to work the-"

"Chill I know."

"I just was saying-"

"Relax," The man said, "I've got it covered, just have the money ready by the time I get back. I want it all Sunday morning, in cash."

"It will be waiting for you," Dodgson said, "Have a nice flight."

…..

Malcolm

Shortly after midnight, he stepped onto the plane at the Dallas airport. A strong legged hedgehog in his early thirties, He was dressed entirely in black. Black shoes, black pants, black shirt, black socks, even his fur was black, minus the read strips on his quills.

"Ah, Dr. Shadow Malcolm." Hammond smiled, with forced grace.

Malcolm grinned, "Hello John. Yes, I am afraid your old nemesis is here."

He shook hands with everyone saying quickly, "Shadow Malcolm, how do you do? I do maths." He struck Sonic as be more amused by the outing than anything else.

Of course, Grant knew who he was. Shadow Malcolm was one of the most famous of the next generation of mathematicians who were only interest in "how the real world works." They broke away from traditional math in many different ways.

Shadow sat down in one of the padded chairs, when the stewardess asked what he wanted to drink, he said, "Diet coke please, and don't shake it up to much."

Humid Dallas air drifted into the plane and Shelly spoke what everyone was thinking, "A little warm for black don't you think?"

"You're extremely pretty Dr. Sattler," he said. And Sonic pinched himself out of irritation, "I could look at your legs all day. But no, to answer your question. Black as a matter of fact is an excellent color for heat. If you remember your black-body radiation, black is actually the best in heat. Efficient radiation. In any case, I only wear two colors, black and gray."

Shelly was staring at him, her mouth open. Sonic leaned over and pushed on her chin, closing it. She blinked and flashed a look at him before looking back at Shadow.

"The colors are appropriate for any occasion," Malcolm continued, "And they go well together, should I make a mistake and put a pair of gray socks with my black trousers."

Gennaro blinked, "Well wouldn't you find it boring to wear only tow colors?"

"Not at all. I believe my life has value, and I don't want to waste it thinking about clothing." Malcolm said, "I don't want to think about what I will wear in the morning. Truly, can you imagine anything more boring than fashion? Sports perhaps, grown men swat at balls, while the world pays to cheer in the stands. But, in whole, I find fashion even more pointless than sports. Don't you agree Dr. Grant."

Sonic was rubbing his temple trying to fight down the headache that was forming, "I suppose you are correct in some ways."

"Dr. Malcolm," Hammond smiled, "Is a man of strong opinions,"

"And mad as a hatter I believe you called me five years ago," Malcolm said cheerfully, "You must admit, we live in a world of frightful givens. In the information society nobody thinks. We expected to banish paper, but we actually banished thought."

Grant let out a quiet groan, and Hammond looked at Gennaro, his hands raised, and whispered "You invited him."

Gennaro flashed a look, "What's that supposed to mean?" he hissed

Hammond gestured to Grant and Sattler, "I invited scientists, and you invited a crazy critic!"

Malcolm heard, "And a lucky thing too, because it sounds as if you have a serious problem."

Sattler leaned in, "Hmm, what do you mean?"

"Well" Malcolm said, "I predicted it from the beginning, that the island was unworkable." He reached into his leather briefcase, "And trust me, the eventual outcome of this is you will have to shut the island down."

"Shut it down!" Hammond stood angrily, "That's ridiculous!"

Malcolm shrugged, "I brought copies of my original report. The mathematics are bit sticky, but I can walk you through it."

"I have phone calls to make," Hammond said suddenly, and he left to the next cabin.

"Well it's a long flight," Malcolm said to the others, "at least my paper will give you something to look at."


	4. Welcome To Jurassic Park

Chapter 4

The plane continued flying throughout the night.

Shelly ran through the paper, she glanced over at Grant, and chuckled lightly.

Sonic had drifted off into a light sleep, the paper, unopened on his lap. Shelly looked over at Malcolm and Gennaro. Gennaro looked uncomfortable and nervous as Malcolm explained his theory.

"So you're saying that Hammond's island is bound to fail?"

"Correct"

"Because of the chaos theory?"

"Correct. To be precise, it's because of phase space."

Gennaro glanced at his paper, and then threw over his shoulder. Rubbing his forehead he said, "Could you say it in English please?"

"Of course, hmmm, where shall we begin, ah yes." Malcolm leaned back, "How about we start at the beginning? Physics has had a great success in describing certain kinds of behavior. The planets orbit, spacecrafts going to the moon, clocks, springs, rolling ball, all of that, all normal movement. This is described as linear equations, and they are very easy problems to solve. We've been doing it for hundreds of years."

"Okay…" Gennaro said slowly. Sattler, interested, sat walked over and sat down across from Malcolm.

Malcolm continued, "But there is another kind of behavior, one that physics has failed to predict. Especially anything with turbulence in them, water, air, weather, blood moving to the heart, things like that. These are called nonlinear equations, and they are nearly impossible to solve. That is until about a decade ago, there is a new theory that calls these problems the chaos theory."

"The chaos theory originally formed when people attempted to build computers to predict the weather. Weather as we all know is complicated and unpredictable. So of course we couldn't predict the weather. It's 'pattern' is extremely sensitive."

"You lost me," Gennaro said.

"Well let's say, if I used a cannon to fire a shell of a certain weight, at a certain speed, and a certain angle- then I fire a second shell, with almost the same weight, speed and angle- what will happen?"

Shelly thought for a moment, "The two shells will land in almost the same spot."

Right," Malcolm said, "Now let's try an experiment. Sattler will you stick out your arm, and hold your hand out slightly tilted.

Shelly did like-wise, "Kay…"

Malcolm reached for a glass of water, "We're originally supposed to do this on still ground, but the plane works fine. Now I'm going to but a drop of water on your hand and you predict where is will go."

"I think it will go down her and off her thumb," Gennaro said. Sattler nodded in agreement. Malcolm put the drop of water on the top of Sattler's hand, and all three watched as it slid of her pointer finger and to the floor.

"Okay so our prediction was wrong," Malcolm said, he wiped the water trail off of Sattler's hand, "Now I'm going to try again, where do you think it will go?"

"The same place it went last time," Gennaro said.

Shelly glanced over to see Sonic watching, "Sonic you have to come see this, this is actually interesting." Sonic just shrugged and stayed where he was.

Malcolm put yet another drop of water, and this time it went of Sattler's thumb.

Malcolm smiled, "See chaos theory, water, weather and other nonlinear problems are so delicate that the slightest change can change everything!"

"I think I get it," Sattler said.

"Yes" Malcolm grinned, "In shorthand it's called the butterfly effect, a butterfly flaps it's wings in Peking, but the weather is different in New York."

"Good heaven," Gennaro said, "I just want to know why you think Hammond's park will fail to work."

"You can only predict so many seconds into the future," Malcolm said, "The thing is, Hammond is doing something that no one else in the world has done. He thinks he can control it,"

"Okay,"

"According to him," Malcolm said, "Hammond's project is just a normal zoo with animals in it. But we all know they will eventually do unpredicted behavior."

"And you know this because…."

"Theory," Malcolm stated.

"But shouldn't you see the island and see what he has done before you jump to conclusions?" Sattler asked.

"No need, theory tells me that the island will soon proceed to behave in an unpredictable fashion."

Gennaro rubbed his eyes, "And you are confident in your theory?"

"Oh yes," Shadow Malcolm said, "Totally confident," He leaned back in his chair, "There is a problem with that island. It is an accident waiting to happen."

Isla Nublar

The plane had dropped them off in Costa Rica; from there they took a helicopter. They were on their way to the mysterious island; on the way there they had to pick up another passenger in San Jose.

He was a human named Ivo Nedry, Sonic was surprised that a human was working on the project as well, usually the humans and the animals kept their distance when it came to large projects, but maybe Hammond thought differently.

He was a fat sloppy man, eating a candy bar, his fingers sticky in chocolate and flecks of aluminum foil on his shirt. Nedry mumbled something about working with computers on the island, and he hadn't offered to shake hands. But everyone was pretty grateful he didn't.

Through the Plexi bubble of the helicopter, Sonic watched the ground drop away. He looked over at Shelly who had her eyes squeezed shut; she didn't mind flying, as long as she couldn't see the ground.

The pilot flew over rolling hills, a small fishing village and out to the ocean. The water turned green, and then to a deep aquamarine, it was actually quite beautiful. The sun glimmered on the water, Sonic checked his watch. It was about ten in the morning.

"We should almost be there by now," Hammond smiled, jumping slightly in his seat, "You should see the island any second now."

According to Hammond, Isla Nublar was not a true island. It was more of a seamount, a volcanic up thrusting of rock from the ocean floor. "You can see many volcanic origins on the island," Hammond explained, "There are steam vents in many places. The ground is often hot, and because of the sea currents it is a foggy area."

The helicopter moved forward, flying low to the water. The Sonic saw it, an island rugged and craggy, rising quickly from the water.

"Christ, it looks like Alcatraz," Malcolm mumbled.

The forested slopes were blanketed in fog, giving the island a mysterious and menacing look.

"Oh but it's much larger," Hammond said, "Eight miles long, and three miles wide at its widest point, so it has a total of some twenty-two square miles, it's the largest private animal preserve in North America."

"The helicopter went up, and headed to the north end of the island. Sonic struggled to see through the dense fog.

"It's usually not this thick," Hammond said slowly, he sounded worried.

The north end of the island was covered in massive hills, over two thousand feet above the ocean. The top of the hills were in a fog, but Sonic could see sharp cliffs and crashing waves below. The helicopter continued over the hills, "Unfortunately," Hammond said, "We have to land on the island, I don't like to because it disturb the animals. And it sometimes gets a bit thrilling,"

"Starting our descent," The pilot suddenly said, "Hang on folks."

The helicopter started down and immediately they were swallowed by fog. Sonic heard the repetitive beeping through his headphones, but he could see nothing, nothing at all. Suddenly he could barely make out green branches of pine trees, reaching out through the mist. Some were close, a little too close.

"How in the world is he doing this?" Malcolm said, but no one answered.

The pilots head swung back and forth, looking at the pine forest. The trees were still close. The helicopter was still descending rapidly.

"Christ," Malcolm said.

The beeping got louder. Sonic looked at the pilot. He was concentrating. Sonic glanced down through the Plexi bubble at his feet. There were flashing lights at the corners of a giant fluorescent cross. The helicopter shifted slightly then landed gently on the helipad. The sound of the rotors faded, and died.

Sonic sighed, and, released his seat belt. He looked over and tapped on Shelly's shoulder. She looked at him, somewhat tense, her hands gripping her seat belt.

"We have to come down fast," Hammond smiled, "Because of the wind shifts. There is often bad weather on this peak, but….well we're safe."

Someone ran up to the helicopter and opened the door. He was a green hawk wearing a set of sports goggles. He threw open the door and said cheerfully, "Hi, I'm Jet Regis. Welcome to Isla Nublar everybody, watch your step please."

A narrow path wound down the hill. The air was chilly and damp. As they moved lower, the mist began to clear. Sonic could see landscape, "It looks kind of like a rain forest."

"Yes, it does, doesn't it" Malcolm agreed

"Well it is mostly tropical forest," Jet Regis said.

Down below, the group could see the white roofs of large buildings, nestled among the planting. Sonic was somewhat surprised, the buildings were very elaborate. They moved lower, out of the mist, and now he could see the full extent of the island, like Regis had said, it was mostly tropical.

To the south Sonic saw, rising above the palm trees, a single trunk with no leaves at all, just a big curving stump. Then the stump moved, and turned to face to arrivals. Malcolm, Sattler, Gennaro and Grant all froze. Sonic realized he wasn't staring at a tree at all.

He looked at the graceful neck of a creature, rising fifty feet into the air.

He was looking at a dinosaur.

Welcome

"My word," Shelly said softly. They were all staring at the animal above the trees. "My _word"_

The first thing that went through her mind was that it was extremely beautiful. Many people imagine dinosaurs a dopey, oversize creatures, but this, no this long necked animal was absolutely beautiful. There was a sense of gracefulness and dignity about its movements. The creature was surprisingly quick-there was nothing dull or lumbering about its behavior. The sauropod peered at them, and made a low trumpeting sound, rather like an elephant. A moment later a second head rose above the trees, then a third, then a fourth. Shelly began to smile.

"My word," she said again.

Mighty stood there, speechless. All this time he had known what to expect, but now…..Now-Well he had known about it for years- but he somehow believed it would never happen, and yet, here he stood now, in shocked silence. These animals were just so big. They were enormous! Big as a house! Bigger! And they were real! Actual damned dinosaurs! They were as real as real could be.

Mighty thought: We are gonna make a fortune with this place, a fortune!

He just prayed to God that this island was safe.

Sonic stood on the path, the mist brushing against his fur, staring at the grey creatures above the palms. He felt dizzy, lightheaded. It was as if the ground was slopping too steeply and his knees felt weak. He found it hard to breath. All of this he felt, because he was seeing something that he never expected to see in his life. Yet here he was, seeing these beautiful creatures in the flesh.

The creatures were perfect apatosaurs, medium sized sauropods. Already theories were going though his. These apatosaurs were commonly called Brontosaurs, first discovered by E.D. Cope in Montana 1876. Traditionally, Brontosaurs was thought to have spent most of its time in water to support its extreme weight. Yet this animal was clearly not in water, it was moving much too quickly. Its head and neck shifting through the palms in an active manner, a surprisingly active manner-

Sonic started to laugh.

Everyone looked over slightly surprised. Sattler walked over, "Sonic are you okay?"

"What is it?" Hammond asked, worried, "Is everything all right?"

Sonic just shook his head and continued to laugh. There was no way to explain his laughter for he had only seen the animal a few seconds.

He kept laughing as a fifth, then a sixth head popped up. They reminded Sonic of oversized giraffes.-they had the same pleasant, rather stupid look.

"I take it they're not animatronics," Malcolm said slowly, ignoring Grants laughter, "They seem very life-like."

"Oh they are," Hammond smiled, "Why wouldn't they be?"

From the distance, they heard the trumpeting again. First one, then the rest.

"They are calling us," Jet Regis, "Welcoming us to the island."

Sonic stood for a moment there listening, spellbound.

"Well, we better show you the rest," Hammond said, starting down the path. "We have a complete tour set for you. You can tour the island, and see the other dinosaurs."

"Other?" Malcolm said slowly.

Hammond nodded, "Yes, there are others, we have fifteen different species, we even have a T-rex."

"A T-rex," Sattler gasped.

Sonic ran up and grasped Hammond shoulders, "Did you say, you have a T-rex, are you serious? You have a t-rex?"

Hammond smiled, "We have a T-rex, two actually."

Sonic felt weak in the knees, "Oh lord," He bent over. Shelly ran up laughing, "Put your head between your knees Sonic."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sonic said, straightening slowly.

Hammond smiled as they made their way down the path, "Why don't you follow Jet to your rooms and I will meet you later."

As Jet led them away, Hammond gave them a wave, "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

Jurassic Park

Shelly walked along side Sonic as the group made their way towards the nearest building. "They look pretty good."

Sonic nodded in agreement, "I want to see them up close. I want to lift up their feet, see their toe pads, feel their skin, open their jaws and inspect their teeth. I want to know for sure that they are real, but yes, they look good."

Shadow stepped into line with them, "They only question is how did they get here?"

Shelly frowned, "You can't reproduce a real dinosaur, because you can get real dinosaur DNA."

"Unless they thought of something we haven't" Shadow stated.

"Like what?" Shelly said.

"I don't know." Sonic said.

Jet led them to a lodge and led them to the fence. Beyond the fence they came to a swimming pool, which spilled over into a series of waterfalls that flowed into smaller pools. The area was planted with huge ferns. "Isn't it amazing," Jet Regis said, "Especially on a foggy morning, it really adds to the prehistoric look. These are authentic Jurassic ferns you know."

Shelly stopped for a moment and took a look at one of the ferns. Yes it was as Jet said, these were Jurassic ferns. But whoever decided to plat these here didn't know that these plants contained a deadly beta-carboline alkaloid.

My gosh people are so naïve, Shelly thought. She got up and continued after the others.

"Isn't it just wonderful?" Jet Regis smiled, "I you look up ahead you can see the Safari Lodge," Shelly saw a low dramatic building, with a series of glass pyramids on the roof. "That's where you'll all be staying here in Jurassic Park."

Sonic's room was done in beige tones, the furniture mimicking a jungle design. The room was quite finished, there were stacks of lumber in the closet and electrical conduit on the floor. In the corner was a TV, with a card on top:

Channel 2: Hypsilophodont Highlands

Channel 3: Triceratops Territory

Channel 4: Sauropod Swamp

Channel 5: Carnivore Country

Channel 6: Stegosaurus South

Channel 7: Velociraptor Valley

Channel 8" Pterosaur Peak

There was something in the names that Sonic found irritatingly cute. Sonic turned on the TV but only got static. He shut it off and threw his suit case on his bed. Right above the bed was a large pyramidal skylight. It created a tented feeling in the room, reminding Sonic of sleeping under the stars. However the glass had been protected by heavy bars, causing stripped shadows to fall over the bed. In fact the bars seemed a crude addition to a rather nice room.

Sonic paused. He had seen the plans, and didn't remember the bars on the skylight. The black steel frame had been constructed outside the glass walls, the bars welded to the frame.

Slightly confused Sonic moved from the bedroom to the living room. His window looked out on the swimming pool.

"By the way, those ferns are poisonous," Shelly said as she walked into his room, her arms crossed. "But did you notice anything about the rooms Sonic?"

"Yeah, they changed plans."

"I think they did too," She moved across the room. "The windows are small," she said. "And the glass is set in a steel frame. The doors are steel clad. That shouldn't be needed. And did you see the fence when we came in."

Sonic nodded. The entire lodge was enclosed within a fence, with bars of inch-thick steel. The fence was cleverly landscaped and painted flat black to resemble wrought iron, but not all the effort in the world could disguised the thickness of the metal, or it's twelve foot height.

"You know what," Shelly said, "I don't even remember if there were fences in the plans. It's like they turned the place into a fortress."

Sonic glanced at his watch, "We will be sure to ask," he said, "The tour is in a half an hour."

They met in the visitors building: two stories high and almost all glass with ex-posed black anodized girders and supports. Grant found it a little high-tech. (A.N. I have no idea what that looks like just use your imagination.)

There was a small auditorium dominated by a robot T-rex, poised menacingly by the entrance to an exhibit area labeled WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. Gennaro climbed up on the stage to talk with Grant, Ellie, and Malcolm, his voice echoing in the slightly empty room.

Hammond stood nearby, listening.

"We're getting ready to tour soon," Gennaro said, "But before we go, I liked to review why we're here, so I want to you to answer only one question."

"Is the island safe? Is it safe for visitors, and is it safely containing dinosaurs."

Everyone nodded, thinking about the question.

Gennaro tilted his head, "I think I hear an helicopter. That's probably the sample for Dr. Grant that I had called you back about earlier." He started out of the room and everyone followed.


	5. Grandchildren

**Grandchildren**

At the foot of the hill, Mighty Gennaro was screaming over the sound of an incoming helicopter. "You did _what_? You invited _who?"_

"Take it easy," Hammond said.

Mighty screamed, "Are you out of your damned mind?"

"Now look here," Hammond said, drawing himself up to his full height. "I think we have to get something clear-"

"No," Gennaro said. "No, you get something clear. This is not a social outing, this is an inspection-"

"This is my island," Hammond said, "and I can invite whomever I want."

"This a serious inspection, the island could be dangerous and-"

"You're not going to shut the island down Mighty-"

"I will if I have to-"

"Ah ah," Hammond said, "Let's continue this later shall we. I don't want to upset the children."

Sonic, Shadow, and Shelly all turned to see two children coming down the hillside. There was a yellow fox, with two tails, about eleven, a small orange rabbit, a girl, a few years younger, seven or eight perhaps. The girl wore a baseball cap and had a baseball glove swing over her shoulder.

Both children stopped just short of Gennaro and Hammond.

Mighty spoke low under his breath, "You've got to be kidding me."

The girl waved timidly.

"Hi Grandpa Big," she said, "We're here."

**The Tour**

Miles Murphy, or Tails, as his friends called him could see at once that something was wrong. His grandfather was in the middle of an argument with a younger red faced armadillo. There were other adults standing nearby, they looked uncomfortable and embarrassed. His sister Cream felt the tensions as well. She walked slowly throwing her baseball in the glove. "Come on Cream."

"Go then Tails."

"Don't be a brat," he said.

Cream stuck her tongue out but said nothing. Jet Regis smiled and said, "I'll introduce you to everybody, and then you could join us in the tour."

Ed Regis began making the introductions. First to Grandpa who gave them both a big hug. Then they were introduced to the man Grandpa Big had been arguing with, his name was Gennaro. Tails didn't really like him. The rest of the introductions were a huge blur to Tails. There was a red haired woman, a mongoose, in shorts and a t-shirt cut at her mid-riff. A blue hedgehog wearing jeans and a dark red t-shirt. He looked like the outdoor type. There was a tall human, very heavy built, who mumble something about the computers, and a black hedgehog, wearing all black cloths. Tails was trying to gather all of his impressions when he realized something.

"You're mouth is hanging open." Cream teased.

Tails mumbled, "I know him. The blue hedgehog."

"Well duh, you just him Tails."

"No I _know _him, I've read his book."

The said hedgehog looked over and said, "What book would that be Tails."

"_The Lost World of The Dinosaurs." _Tails said.

Cream snickered, "Daddy says Tails has dinos on the brain."

Tails ignored her, he was too busy go through all the facts about Sonic Grant. Dr. Grant was one of the principle supporters in the theory that dinosaurs were warm blooded. He had also done lots of digs in Snakewater Montana, he was famous for finding tons dinosaur eggs.

"Dinosaurs on the brain," Grant said, breaking Tails from his thoughts, he laughed, "Well I guess you and I have the same problem."

"Dad says dinosaurs are stupid," Cream said, "He says Tails should get out more and play some sports."

Tails's face flushed in embarrassment, "I thought you had to go."

"I think I know when I have to go Miles." She hissed, putting her hands on her hips, imitating her mother's stance.

"Tell you what," Jet Regis said. "Why don't we all head on down to the restrooms and then begin the tour." Everybody began walking, and Tails heard Gennaro say to his Grandpa Big, "You are so dead for this." Tails shrunk back, and then he noticed that Dr. Grant had slipped into step next to him.

"How old are you Tails?"

"Eleven."

"So how long have you been into dinosaurs?"

"Umm," Tails said nervously, he still couldn't believe he was talking to Dr. Grant. "I've been into them awhile now." He smiled, "One time I managed to talk my family into going to the Museum of Natural History to look at some dinosaurs. And dad asked why I was counting the vertebrae on the T-rex there, and I told him there was too many. So he went to ask the guard it I was right, and I was." Then he frowned, "But then Dad and Cream wanted to catch the end of the Mets game so we didn't get to see anymore."

Dr. Grant smiled, "Tell me Tails, was it number 5038."

"Huh?"

The tyrannosaurus at the museum, was it 5038?"

"Yes," Tails said, "How in the world did you know?"

"Because they have been talking about fixing that for years," Dr. Grant said, "But now…..That may never happen."

"Why?"

"Because of what is happening here," Dr. Grant said, "This Island that your Grandfather built."

"Mom said it was just a resort. Swimming pools, tennis court, you know that sorta stuff."

"No quite," Dr. Grant said "I'll explain along the way."

_Great, now I'm a bloody babysitter, _Jet Regis thought angrily, taping his foot as he stood in the visitor center. He could believe Big had thrown this on him.

"You watch my kids like the hawk you are Jet," Hammond had said.

Of course Jet didn't like this at all. He felt like he had no respect here. He wasn't a damn babysitter. And he wasn't a damn tour guide, even for the so called VIPs. He was the head of the public relations to Jurassic Park; he had a lot to do between now and the opening of the park next year. He had to keep the funders happy, and right now, they were not happy.

He wasn't supposed to do those odd jobs that they keep throwing at him. Like that accident a couple of months ago back in January. Dr. Harding should have handled that one, what was he supposed to do with a seriously injured worker? What was he now? A doctor a tour guide and now a babysitter.

He turned to the restrooms and counted heads. _Still two short. _He thought glumly.

Then, in the back he saw Dr. Sattler and Cream emerge from the restrooms.

"Alrighty then, let's begin the tour of the second floor shall we?"

The sign said, _Closed Area, Authorized Personnel Beyond This Point._

Tails felt a small thrill course through his body. The group was walking down the hall of the second floor. Tails looked eagerly ahead and saw another sign.

_Biohazard_

_Caution Biological Hazard _

_This Lab Contains Is Run By Genetic Protocols_

Underneath there were more signs.

_**Caution**_

_Teratogenic Substances_

_**Danger **_

_Radioactive Isotopes In Use_

Tails felt his tails twitch with excitement. Teratogenic Substances? That was the stuff that made monsters in monster movies. He looked over at Cream, and even she looked excited. This was so thrilling! He suddenly became disappointed as Jet Regis spoke.

"Don't mind the signs we just have them up for security reasons."

Everyone stopped and looked through a window to see a darkened room; it looked like NASA mission control. There was a see through glass map of the park, facing the map was a bank of computer counsels. Some of the computers displayed data; others just were video screens from all around the park. There were two people standing in the room, a black lab on the left with a metal arm and a red echidna on the right.

"The one on the left is Arnold Omega, his is the chief operator for the system. The one on the right is Knuckles Muldoon. He is the game hunter for the park."

"What kind of name is Knuckles?" Cream asked.

And then they all saw it. Muldoon had shifted slightly, revealing one of his gloved hands. Right where his knuckles were, there were two small spikes sticking up.

"Well that probably explains it." Gennaro stated.

Muldoon looked over a nodded at the group before going back to his conversation.

"Well," said Jet, "I'm sure you would all like to go see that room. But first why don't we show you how we obtained dinosaur DNA.

The group was led through a door that had the sign saying _Extractions _and like the rest of the doors in the building it activated with a security card.

Inside the room, Tails saw the whole place bathed in a florescent light. There were numerous people walking around. Some peered through microscopes others looking at images. All around the room there were yellow round objects, they looked like rocks. They were on the shelves, in boxes, and silver trays, all marked and tagged with black ink.

Jet walked over to a bee, in his late thirties. Red goggles atop his head.

"This is Charmy Wu," Jet said with a smirk, as if he found his name amusing.

Charmy looked over at Jet with a glare before addressing the others, "Hello, I'm the chief geneticist. I'll try to explain as best as I can how we make dinosaurs here." He flew over to a table, "Your probably wondering how we even obtained dinosaur DNA."

"I'm pretty sure it's crossed everyone's mind once or twice." Malcolm stated.

"Well, here it is." Charmy Wu said, as he picked up on of the many yellow stones, "We got our DNA from amber."

Sonic looked at Shelly, then at Shadow, then back to the stone.

"That it actually quite clever," Malcolm said.

"I'm not sure I understand." Sattler admitted.

"Tree sap," Wu said, "often catches insects and traps them. The insects are perfectly preserved inside the fossil sap. Many insects get trapped, including biting insects that sucked the blood of larger animals."

"Sucked the blood…"Sonic repeated. His mouth fell open. "You mean…sucked the blood of dinosaurs."

"That's what we hope for, yes."

"Then the insects are preserved in amber…" Sattler said slowly

"I'll be damned," Malcolm said.

"That-just might work," Sonic said, shaking his head.

"It does work," Wu smiled. He walked over to scientist who was looking into a microscope. He had drilled into the amber and was pulling DNA out of the mosquito inside.

Tails looked over to see Dr. Grant was still skeptical. He looked over to see Ivo Nedry, the fat guy, seemed totally uninterested. He seemed to know everything that was happening. He kept glancing over to the next room.

"I see Ivo has spotted or next phase in the process of creating dinosaurs." Wu said.

He led the group into the room; there were large computers with endless codes and numbers flying through the screens. "This is where we identify the DNA codes. To do that we need powerful computers."

Tails looked at the computers; they were all running so fast that it was hard to see what they were showing. Wu pressed a button on one of the screens and it slowed down.

"This is a small fragment of DNA." Wu pressed the button again and the screen continued moving at its original speed. "If we looked at a screen like this, once a second, for eight hours a day, it will take two years to look at the entire DNA strand."

"Sometimes there is an error in the DNA strand , or a piece is missing. So the computer takes cut DNA, what we call enzymes and pick some from a wide variety and fills the gaps and errors.

Ivo Nedry yawned. He had long concluded that InGen would do something like this. A couple years ago InGen had hired Ivo to design the park control systems; they wanted it to be 3 x 109. Ivo at first thought it was a mistake, he double check to make sure, but it was no mistake. InGen wanted a system with three billion fields.

Ivo had made a lot of large systems in his time, he had made a name for himself by doing so. But a system with three billion fields? InGen obviously wanted something much bigger than a normal system.

Of course he built the system. And like all systems they had bugs. Of course, what do you expect? But no, they called him down here in a panic, demanding he fix everything. They blamed him for 'his' bugs, it annoyed him to bits.

Ivo returned to the group as Sonic spoke up, "Once the DNA is analyzed, how do you know what animal you have?"

Wu shrugged, "We basically have two routes, the first is studying the DNA and matching it with the evolutionary sequence. It is very time consuming but came be done."

"And the other way?"

"We wait and see how they grow. That's what we usually do. I'll show you how it's done."

Tails felt his impatience growing as they walked into the next room. Sure he liked all the technical stuff, but he was losing his interest.

Charmy Wu showed the group some highly deadly poisons. Tail wanted to know more about the poisons but Wu went on to talk about unfertilized crocodile ova and replacing the DNA and then Dr. Grant asked some questions.

Cream was bored. Ivo yawned. Even Dr. Sattler looked as if she was losing interest. Tails was getting tired of all the technical jumble, he wanted to see dinosaurs.

Wu led them to the next room that seemed to hold more promise, it was labeled _Hatchery. _It was extremely warm and damp. It felt like ninety degrees to Tails.

"We have about a hundred and fifty eggs per table," Wu said, "Our survival percent rate is about 4, we like to raise the number, but for now, we have to make multiple eggs to guarantee some successful hatchings. So far however, we have produced and released two hundred and thirty-eight dinosaurs."

He gestured to the eggs, some had letters on them, and others had numbers. "As you can see, some have abbreviations on them, and some have numbers. The abbreviations stand for dinosaurs we already have, like _TRIC _stands for _Triceratops_ and _STEG _stands for _Stegosaurus. _There are so many species it's hard to keep track of them all. I believe there are three hundred genres of dinosaurs known so far."

"Three hundred and forty-seven." Tails said.

Dr. Grant smiled, "And what about the numbered ones?"

"Those ones," said Wu, "Are dinosaurs we have been unable to identify. Any questions? No? Then let's move on to the nursery."

Wu led them to the nursery. It was around room, sky blue walls. There were incubators but they were all empty. There were rags, blankets and toy scattered across the floor.

There was a female pink hedgehog about twenty, sitting on the floor and a white male hedgehog about twenty five, standing over her. Both had their backs to the incoming group.

"Hello Silver," Charmy said, "What brings you here to the nursery today?"

The hedgehog turned around and shrugged, smiling a little, "Just here to make sure the animal is doing well. Usually I don't check on the animals until we release them into the park, Knuckles and Big are usually in here. But Big is busy and Knuckles doesn't care for the animal we have today."

"This is Silver Harding." Wu explained, "He's the park vet."

Silver waved as the group was introduced, "Nice to meet you all. But sadly I have to go now, I have other animals to check on." And with that Silver walked out the door.

"Speaking of animals," Charmy said, "What do you have for us today Amy."

The female hedgehog stood up, "Not much I'm afraid, just a baby raptor today."

"May we have a look?"

Amy smiled and stepped aside. Behind him, Tails heard Ivo say, "It looks like a big lizard."

The animal was about a foot and a half long. It was dark brown with yellow stripes, like a tiger. It had a lizard like head, a long snout. But it stood upright on strong hind legs, a thick tail giving it balance. Its smaller front legs waved in the air. The animal cocked its head to its side and blinked its large eyes at the visitors staring down at it.

"_Velociraptor." _Sonic said, in a rather low voice.

"It's a predator," Wu said, " about five weeks old."

"I just started to excavate a raptor," Sonic said, as he kneeled down for a closer look. As if it was a reflex the young raptor leaped over Sonic's head and into Tails's arms.

Shelly let out a gasp, "Sonic did you see that?"

"Yes I did," Sonic said turning around.

"The infants can jump," Wu said, "So can the adults actually."

Tails caught the infant and held it close to him. The animal wasn't heavy, three pounds at least. The skin felt warm and dry. The little head was inches from Tails's face, its wide eyes staring into his. It's forked tongue flicking in and out.

"Uhhh, will he hurt me?"

Wu laughed, "Oh no. _She's _quite friendly."

"It's a girl?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure she won't bite?" Mighty said, somewhat concerned.

"Oh quite sure, well, that is until she grows up. The babies don't have any teeth. They don't even have egg teeth, sharp horns for poking out of eggs. The just push through with their pointy snouts The staff usually has to help then out."

"Help them?" Dr. Grant frowned.

"What about in the wild?" Sattler asked.

"In the wild?"

"Yes."

"When they breed in the wild," Dr. Grant said, "When they make a nest?"

"Oh they can't do that," Amy said, "None of the animals can breed. That is why we have a nursery. You see, all the animals in the park are female. The hatchery and the nursery is the only way to replace the dinosaurs in the park."

"As for the dinosaurs being female," Malcolm said, "How do you know for sure, what do you look under the skirts and check?"

"Well," Wu said, "We all originally start out female, we just need and extra hormone at a certain time in development to make a dinosaur male."

"We just make sure that the dinosaurs never get that extra hormone," Amy said. "Trust us, all of the animals are female, some of them yes we do refer to as male, such as the T-rex, but that's just because it seems more suiting. Believe us when we say, these animals can't breed."

The little velociraptor rubbed its head against Tail's cheek. Tails giggled.

"She wants you to feed her," Amy said.

"What does she eat?" Tails asked.

"Mice mostly. But she's just eaten; we won't be feeding her for awhile." Amy smiled, "I'll go get her some water, be right back." Amy walked out of the room.

Dr. Grant kneeled close and gently lifted one of the tiny claws. He gently touched the tail and the raptor squeaked.

"Dr. Grant," Jet Regis said, "If you please would not poke and prod the animal, remember these animals did not live at the same time as humans."

"I'm not prodding and-"

The raptor squealed.

"Dr. Grant stop." Jet said a little annoyed.

Dr. Grant sighed and pulled away. The raptor stopped squealing. Tails felt its heart beating rapidly.

"Hey little fella it's okay," Tails said.

Dr. Grant peered at the animal, obviously in deep thought.

Suddenly the raptor looked at Grant, it open its mouth and hissed. It's body posture showing intense fury.

"She's got a little temper doesn't she?" Malcolm said.

"Interesting." said Sattler.

"Can I stay and play with her?" Tails asked.

"Not right now," Regis said, "Its three o'clock, we better get ready to start the tour of the park."

Tails handed the raptor to Amy, who had just entered the room, and the group left.


	6. Velciraptor

Velociraptor

As they made their way to the control room, "Alright I have one more question." Shadow said. "How many species do you have in the park?"

Charmy stopped and paused, "Fifteen, I believe, Jet, do you know how many we have?"

"Fifteen," Jet said.

"You mean you don't know?" Shelly asked, showing some shock.

"I've lost track over the years," Charmy said, "At one time we had twenty here at the park. But now we have only fifteen."

"And, one of the species," Shadow said, "Is it a….." He paused and looked at Sonic, "What was name?"

"_Procompsognathus." _Sonic said.

"Jeez how do you say that?" Shadow said, "Yes that one."

"Yes we have them," Charmy said, "We call them Compys, they are quite important to the island and we have a large number of them."

"Why is that?"

"Well, for one, we wanted Jurassic Park to look as authentic as possible. And the compys are actual scavengers from the Jurassic period. We wanted them around to clean up."

"You mean the carcasses?"

"Well yes," Charmy said, "But we only have a population of two hundred and thirty-odd animals, we don't have many carcasses, and….."He paused," That wasn't the primary objective. The compys are around to well how should I put this…..They are the waste management for the park."

Tails made a face, and Cream said "Eww."

"You mean dinosaur droppings," Shelly said.

"Yes," Charmy said, "Believe me; you have not seen the droppings of a whole herd of brontosaur. The compys are very useful."

"Is see," said Shadow. "How many do you have?"

"Fifty,"

"That's a lot to keep track of."

"It is, but that it exactly what the control room is for, which we will be showing you in a minute."

Everyone continued walking.

"Hmmm," Shadow said, "Let's say one of the animals managed to get off the island."

"They can't," Charmy said.

"How?" Sonic asked.

"Well for one," Charmy said, "Then control room is designed to count the number of animals every few minutes. If one went missing, we would know at once. Secondly, We've designed the animals, that if they somehow managed to leave the island, they would die within twelve hours."

"How is that possible?" Shelly asked.

"Well," Charmy said, showing slight irritation, "I've designed the animals to lysine dependent. If they don't get enough lysine, in tablet form, which is supplied by us, they will go into a coma and die within 12 hours. These animals are generically designed to not survive in the real world. They can only live here in Jurassic Park. They are not free at all. They are essentially are prisoners."

"Okay everyone, this is the control room," Jet Regis said, "Now that you know how the animals are made, we will show you how we keep track of all the animals, before you go out to the-"

He stopped and peered through the thick glass, the room was dark. All monitors were off, except three, one of them displayed and image of a boat.

"What it the-" Jet Regis said, "Oh damn their docking."

"Docking?" Dr. Grant asked

"Yes, every two weeks a supply ship comes in from the mainland. But the thing is, the island does not have a good harbor, or a dock at that. It could be a few minutes." Jet said. He tapped on the window, but the people inside paid no attention, he sighed, "I guess we have to wait then."

"So they baby raptor you showed us earlier," Dr. Grant said, "You mentioned adults."

"Yes," Jet said, without a second of pause, "We have eight adult females. They are real hunters; they hunt in packs you know."

"Are they on the tour?" Sattler asked.

"No," Wu said, he suddenly looked nervous. There was an awkward pause. Wu looked at Regis.

"We haven't integrated them into the park yet," Jet said with a smile, "We keep them in a holding pen."

"Can I see them there?" Dr. Grant asked.

"Why yes, as a matter of fact while you're waiting-" Jet checked his watch, "You might want to go around and look at them."

"I certainly would," Dr. Grant said.

"Absolutely," Sattler said eagerness in her voice.

"Me too," Tail's said, eager as well.

"I would like to see them as well," Malcolm said.

"Just go around the back of this building, past the support facility, and you'll see the fence. But don't get to close to the fence." Jest said, he looked at the girl, "Do you want to go too?"

"Naw," Cream said, "You want to play a little catch, throw a few?"

"Well sure," Jet said, "Why don't you and I go down stairs and we'll do that."

(Page Break)

Sonic walked with Shelly and Shadow around the back of the main building, the kid tagging along. Sonic like kids-it was it was impossible not to. Sonic used to watch kids in museums, staring at the dinosaurs with open mouths and wide eyes. They never ceased to amaze him; especially young children learning the names of dinosaurs. It never failed to astound him when a three year old shrieked _'Stegosaurus!'_

"Tell what you know about _Velociraptor_ Tails." Sonic said.

"Well I know they were pack hunters," Tails said.

"That's right," Sonic said, "It is also assumed that raptor were smarter than most dinosaurs."

"Exactly how intelligent would that be?" Shadow asked.

"Depends on who you ask," Shelly said.

"Ahh, I see."

A loud hum filled everyone's ears as they approached a shed. There was a faint smell of gasoline in the air. They looked in the shed.

"It must be a generator," Shelly said.

"My gosh it's big." Sonic said, as he peered deeper inside.

The power plant actually extended two stories into the earth, a complex maze of whining turbines and piping, lit by harsh electric bulbs. "They can't need this much power," Shadow said, "There is enough energy here to power a small city."

"Maybe it's all for the computers."

"Perhaps."

They heard bleating nearby and Sonic looked over. There was a small animal enclosure, with an estimate of fifty to sixty goats inside.

"What's that for," Shelly asked.

"Beats me," Sonic said.

"Probably to feed them to the meat eating dinosaurs," Malcolm said.

The group walked on, the followed a small dirt trail through a grove of dense bamboo. At the far side, they came to a double-layer chain-link fence, twelve feet high, and spirals of barb-wire on the top. There was an electric hum coming from the outer part of the fence.

Beyond the fences, there dense clusters of large ferns, six feet high. Sonic heard a snort, and a kind of shuffling. Then the sound of crunching on the gravel.

Then silence.

"I don't see anything," Tails said after a second or two.

"Ssssh."

Sonic waited, several seconds passed, and still he saw nothing.

Shelly tapped his shoulder, and then she pointed.

Sonic followed her finger. Amid the ferns, Sonic saw the head of a animal. It stood motionless, partially hidden in the ferns, the two large eyes stared, watching them coldly.

The head was at least two feet long. It had a long row of sharp teeth, and a pointed snout. The head reminded him of a large lizard, or maybe a crocodile. The eyes did not blink, nor did the animal move. The skin looked leathery, with a pebble like texture, it was the same color as the infant they saw earlier, dark brown with yellow stripes, only it had reddish hues mixed with the browns and yellows.

As Sonic watched, a single arm reached and slowly, silently to part the ferns blocking it's view. Sonic eyed the hand; there were three fingers, each ending with curved claws. The hand gently pushed the ferns away.

Sonic felt a sudden chill, _He's hunting us. _He thought.

Of course the animal must have not realized that he had been spotted, that he-

The attack came unexpectedly, from the left and from the right. Raptors charged, covering the ten yards to the fence with incredible speed. Sonic saw a blurr of six foot tall bodies, stiff balancing tails, curving claws, jaws open.

The animals snarled as the leapt into the air, raising their hind legs dagger claws flashing. The struck the fence in front of them, falling back in a shower of hot sparks.

The velociraptor stepped back hissing, and Sonic took a step forward, fascinated. Only then did the third raptor move, leaping to strike the fence halfway up. Tails screamed in fright as sparks showered around him, stinging his fur.

The raptors hissed, and ran into the ferns. Then they were gone, leaving behind smoke and the odor of decay. There was a moment of silence.

"_Holy crap," _Shadow said slowly.

"They were so _fast," _Shelly said.

"Pack hunters," Sonic said, "Pack hunters that ambush out of pure instinct….That is just amazing."

"They didn't seem extremely smart, exactly opposite of what you mentioned earlier." Shadow said, "They ran straight into the fence."

Suddenly from the ferns, they heard the snorting again. A head poked out of the ferns. Sonic started to count...four…five…six…..seven…The animals watched silently, giving them a cold stare.

A red gecko ran up to them, he looked slightly pale as if expecting something horrid. "Are you alright?"

Sonic turned to face him crossing his arms, "We're fine,"

"The alarms had gone off and….." He trailed off, looking at the fence, charred and dented, "And they attacked you?"

"Three of them tried, yes."

"I see, they do that often, they just hit the fence and take a shock. They don't seem to care.

"They're not too bright are they?" Shadow said.

The gecko paused, glanced at the fence and looked back at Shadow, dark shadows covering his face as he stared at him in the afternoon light, "Be grateful…..For that fence sir." Then he turned and walked away.

(Page Break)

"Shelly did you see that!" Sonic said as they walked back to the lodge, "The attack, it was so fast, it couldn't have taken more than six seconds!"

"I know," Shelly said, "And they were so silent, we didn't even know the other two were there."

"The speed," Sonic said, "Was astonishing! I hardly saw them move, it was all a blur!"

"They are fast," Tails agreed.

"Yes very fast," Sonic said, "Faster than any reptiles I've ever seen. Komodo dragons can go thirty miles an hour, but these raptors….." He paused and looked at Shelly, "Good Lord, Shelly, without the fence they…they could go twice as fast."

"Cheetah speed," Shadow said, "Sixty, seventy miles an hour."

"Exactly,"

"How did they do that? Without a language, they didn't make a sound."

"Language isn't necessary for coordinated hunting," Shelly said, "A group of chimps can stalk a monkey and kill it using only communication with the eyes."

"Well that's disturbing," Shadow said, "And these dinosaurs were hunting us?"

"Yes," Sonic said.

"And they could have killed us if they could?" Shadow asked.

I think so."

"Okay so here is my question," Shadow said, "I'm told animals like lions and tigers, jaguars and such, are not born man-eaters. Somewhere along the way they learn that humans are easy to kill, isn't that right?"

"Yes, I believe that is true," Sonic said.

"Then these dinosaurs have to be extremely reluctant, because they never lived with man," Shadow said, "Who knows what they think when they look at us. But what I'm trying to say is, have they, somewhere along the line, learned that humans and anthros were easy to kill?"

There was an eerie silence as the group continued walking.

"In that case," Shadow said, "I am extremely eager to see the control room."

**Control**

Sonic tapped his foot, feeling somewhat irritated. He was now currently standing in the control room which ran the park. Sonic didn't like computers. Some of the kids knew how to work them well. But to Sonic, computers were alien and confusing. He didn't even try to understand them. Mighty Gennaro seemed pretty comfortable, and Malcolm seemed like he was right at home among the monitors.

The black lab introduced to them earlier as Arnold Omega, was telling them about the system. "You want to know about the control mechanisms," he asked, "Heck, we have unbelievable control mechanisms."

"For example, we have animal tracking." Omega pressed a button and a series of jagged blue lines appeared on the glass screen. "This is the path of the juvenile T-rex in the past 24 hours."

"What about the adult," Gennaro asked.

"The adult, hell, I'll show you all the animals," Omega said. He pressed another button and the screen lit up like a Christmas tree. All the lights were certain colors and marked with a code. "We can keep track of all of the animals, which are two hundred and thirty eight. The motion sensors all over the park help us do that. We keep them contained in different holding pens, concrete moats that are fifteen feet deep and filled with water, thirty on the larger ones, and fifty miles of twelve foot high fences, electric of course."

"Interesting, does the computer ever make a mistake?"

"Only with the babies, because they are such small images. But we don't sweat that, they stay close to the herd."

"And how often does it update?"

"About every fifteen minutes."

"Are there sensors everywhere in the park?" Sattler asked.

Omega thought for a moment, "They cover ninety-two percent of the park. We can't use them by the river because it messes with the camera. The sensors give us picture updates every five minutes, an if an animal were to die, we would know." He smiled, "It's quite the system. Quite the damn system."

Sattler walked up to the screen, "What are these numbers on the right side of the screen? The ones next to the names?" The column on the right had indeed numbers next to the names, for example the number next to the T-rex's name was 4.1.

Omega stubbed out his cigarette, "Those are the different versions. When we made the dinosaurs we sometimes find errors in the DNA code, so we have to update their DNA code. So it's important to know what version we're on."

"That's interesting," Gennaro said, "But what I'm worried about is the computer system, can it be tampered with from the outside?"

"Nope," Omega said, "The system is completely hardened, totally independent, it's perfectly safe." He paused, "Quit the system,' he said again.

"So I'm guessing since the system is so perfect," Malcolm said, "There are no problems."

"Oh we have problems alright," Omega said, "But nothing you need to worry about. Your probably more worried about the animals, and man do we have a heck of a time caring for them."

"You have to realize," he continued, "That man and these animals have never lived in the same time before. Everybody knows how to take care of a dog, but we don't know anything about how to raise dinosaurs. Diseases are our biggest concern."

"Diseases," Gennaro said nervously, "Can they pass to humans?"

Omega raised an eyebrow, "Have you ever caught I cold from a crocodile at the zoo Mr. Gennaro? I don't think so, we are more worried that it will kill the animals. You wanna see the big rex's health file, is dental records? That is something to see right there. Shall we begin tour now?"

"Wait," Gennaro said, "What about the mechanical systems?"

"Oh you mean the rides?"

Sonic shot his head up suddenly and looked over, _rides? _He thought.

"None of the rides are up yet," Omega said, "We have jungle river ride, the Aviary Lodge Ride, but none are operational yet. The park will open with the basic dinosaur tour-the one you're about to take in a few minutes."

"Hold on a sec," Sonic said, "You're going to have rides? Like an amusement park?

"Dr. Grant," Omega said, "This is a zoological park, we have tours of different areas, and we just call them rides. That's all."

Sonic frowned, he just wasn't convinced. He didn't like the idea of the dinosaurs being used as a amusement park.

"So," Malcolm said, "You can run the whole park from this room?"

"Single handedly if I had to." Omega said, "The computer can itself can feed animals, track them, and fill their water troughs for forty eight hours without supervision."

"And this is the system Mr. Nedry designed?" Ivo Nedry was sitting at his counsel typing and eating a candy bar.

"Yes, that's right," Ivo said, without looking over.

"It's quite the system," Omega said proudly.

"That's right," Ivo said, "Just a few minor bugs to fix."

"Any more questions?" Omega asked.

"No I think I've learned what I need to know," Malcolm said.

As they walked out, "That system seems pretty impressive," Gennaro said, "I don't see how the animals could get out."

"Oh?" Shadow Malcolm said, looking darkly over, "I thought it was completely obvious."

"Wait a minute," Gennaro said, "You think some could have possibly escaped?"

"Oh no, I know."

**Touring the Island**

"This way everyone," Jet Regis said. Leading them outside.

A line of Toyota Land Cruisers came out of the underground garage beneath the visitor center. Each car pulled up, lacking a driver. Two men in safari uniforms opened the doors for the passengers.

"Two to four passengers to a car please," a recorded voice was saying, "Two to four passengers to a car please. Children ten and under must be accompanied by an adult. Two to four passengers to a car please…."

Tails watched as Grant, Sattler, Malcolm, and Gennaro climb into the first Land Cruiser.

Tails pointed at the car and said, "Can I go with them?"

"I'm afraid they have adult things to discuss," Jet Regis said.

"But I can talk adult things," Tails said.

"Well you'll be able to hear what their saying in the second car, there are two way radios installed in them." Jet Regis smiled.

Tails and Cream climbed into the second car. Tails was excited to be sitting in the front seat. The men in the uniforms closed the car doors and the car started up with an electric hum. In the first car, the adults were talking, looking excited.

"Let's hear what their saying." Regis said. He twisted the knob, and the radio on the dashboard clicked.

"I thought I told you to answer only one question!" Gennaro was saying, he sounded angry.

"And I have," Malcolm retorted, "This island is a hazard!"

Gennaro sighed, "Sattler, Grant, back me up."

"Well," Sattler said, "Malcolm may be right in some points. Those plants at the hotel, they are poisonous, you put them up because they look nice, but they can be lethal. Same with the animals, they will defend themselves, violently if necessary."

"Dr. Grant…"

"What we have here…" Grant paused, "Are two different species, millions of years apart in evolution that are suddenly thrown back together in a mix. How can we possibly know….What the outcome of this will be?"

"See, I'm right!" Malcolm said.

"I'll tell you who's right," Gennaro snapped, "You're here to advise me, damn it, not tear the idea apart, you dirty rotten-"

Jet Regis pushed the button, "In order to keep the island from pollution, these cars are driven from electric lines under the cars. We will be traveling into the park to get up close to the animals, just like a game park." He paused, and winked at the kids. Lex giggled, "And by the way," Regis said, "We can hear everything your saying back here."

Tails watched, as Sonic shifted in his seat, and looked out the window, Sattler turned red in the face, and Malcolm coughed slightly. Tails laughed, this was so funny!

"Christ," Gennaro said, "I need to speak freely, not have these damned kids-"

Jet smiled blandly and pushed the button again, "Let's continue shall we?"

There was the sound of trumpets on the car speakers and the computer screen that was in the dashboard flashed, "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

The cars drove up to a large wooden gate, which opened automatically as the cars approached. A woman's voice spoke up in the speakers. "Welcome to Jurassic Park. You are now entering the lost world of the dinosaurs, a world where these mighty creatures walked the earth; you are privileged to see these creatures for the first time."

(Page Break)

"So, I guess this changes your field drastically." Shadow said to Sonic.

Sonic looked out the window, "Yes. It changes everything."

This park, everything about it, opened a new gate way for the future. If it succeeded, the park would create more dinosaurs, and the whole world will want to know what a real dinosaur was like. Museums will no longer be needed, the models of the dinosaurs will sit quietly gathering dust, or be packed away forgotten. All the funding for the digs, all the questions that only paleontologists could provide, they would all disappear.

Paleontologists would no longer be needed. They would be forgotten, along with everything else. Sonic frowned mentally; he would have to find a new field. But that was beside the point.

"With this park, we paleontologists are out of a job."Sonic said, "We're going to disappear."

Shadow smirked, "Don't you mean extinct."

Sonic looked back, "Okay, now that has to be the lamest, and I mean _the lamest _joke I have ever heard."

Malcolm just laughed.

(Page Break)

The Land Cruisers passed under a grove of palm trees, through the foliage. "We imagine the world of the dinosaurs," The woman said, "as a world of massive vegetarians, but actually the average dinosaurs are about the size of a pony. If you look to the left, you will see one of these species now, Hypsilophodonts." Everyone immediately looked left.

The cars stopped over a low rise, where a break in the foliage provided a view to the east. They could see a sloping forested field with a wide yellow grass. There were no dinosaurs' visible.

"Well…." Cream said, "Where are they?"

Tails looked at the dashboard, its lights flashed and the CD-ROM whirred. Obviously, the disk was being acceded by some automatic system. The screen now showed images of hypsilophodonts, and was displaying data.

The voice spoke again, "Hypsilophodonids are the gazelles you might say of Jurassic Park. You can see them in the plains right now, and perhaps even in the trees."

"Dinosaurs in the trees?" Cream asked.

Tails picked up a pair of binoculars that were in a pocket in the door, he peered through them and smiled. "To the right," he said, "Halfway up the trunk.

The animals in the trees were motionless, sitting on the branches, using their long tails to keep balance.

"They are kinda boring," Cream said.

"The main herd of animals can be found in the field below you." Said the voice, "we can rouse them with a mating call." A speaker by the fence let out a long call, similar to the sound of geese.

From the field, six heads poked up, one after the other. Tails laughed, the effect was entertaining.

The heads went back down, and the speaker went off, again the heads came back up, one at a time.

"Hypsilophodonts have the intelligence of a cow. So they are not too bright." The voice said. "Now that we have seen these fascinating herbivores, let's move on to some dinosaurs slightly bigger, much bigger actually."

The Land Cruisers move forward, deeper south into the park.

**Control**

"The gears are grinding," Arnold Omega said, sitting in the dark control room. "How many problems do we have and the gears are grinding!"

Mr. Hammond, or Big, Omega had come to call him walked in, "A minor detail." He said, he looked at the screen to see the two Land Cruisers moving south through the park. Knuckles stood in the corner, silent.

Omega turned his chair to face the old cat, "There are no minor details Big," he frowned and lit a cigarette. Nervous, Omega knew all too well that this was the first time visitors had actually gone into the park. Omega and his team hardly- if never- went into the park. Silver the vet did, Amy went with him sometimes, and the animal handlers went to the individual feeding houses. But other than that, everything about the park was controlled from the room he was now sitting in. And a hundred problems were going through his mind.

Omega had been a systems engineer for submarine weapons for awhile, and then he changed tastes and worked with amusement parks from then on out. He was asked two years ago to work at Jurassic Park, and how could her refuse, the pay was incredible. Of course he knew from experience it sometimes took years to get a bug out of a single ride, let alone a whole park.

"You worry too much," Big said.

"I worry just the right amount thank you," Omega said, "You have to realize Big that Jurassic Park is the first of its kind from a engineering standpoint. Visitors don't think about it, but I do."

He held up a finger, "For one, the park has all the problems of a major zoo," he held up another, "We also have all the problems of a major amusement park," and he held up one more, "And finally we have unknown problems of animals that people never have taken care of before."

"Oh, it can't be that bad," Big said.

"Oh but it is," Omega said, "The t-rexes drink water from the lagoon and get sick, we have no idea why. The triceratopses kill each other so we have to divide them in groups of six. The Stegos get blisters on their tongue and diarrhea. And the velociraptors-"

"Don't even bring them up;" Big said angrily, "I am sick of hearing how dangerous they are."

"They are," Knuckles said, "They are the most viscous creatures ever seen and they should be destroyed."

"I said you could put radio collars on them." Big said.

"I did," Knuckles snapped, "And they chewed right through them."

"And we have to agree," Omega said, "Even if the raptors never get free, Jurassic Park is dangerous."

"Moons of-" Big said, "Whose side are you on anyway! You're starting to sound like Malcolm."

"Think about it, we have fifteen species, and most of them are dangerous!"

Big ignored him, he looked over at Ivo, "Oh is the computer coming, its been giving me a headache.

"Give me time," Ivo said, "I'm getting there."

"If you had done it right in the first place!" Big began but Omega had stood up and grabbed his arm, knowing all too well in was impossible and pointless to argue with Ivo.

"It's a large system," Omega sighed, "We were bound to have glitches."

To tell in truth, Ivo had paled at the sight of the glitch list, it was over a hundred and fifty items long. He at first thought he could handle the bugs over the weekend but when he looked at the list….He was now calling his office in Cambridge and had been using up every possible phone line.

While Ivo worked, Omega walked up to the video screen and watched the cars; they were nearing a carnivore padlock.

(Page Break)

"If you look to the left, you can see a glimpse of the aviary, not yet available to visitors," the voice said. Tails sighed; he was starting to find the recorded woman annoying. He looked left and saw a shining silver roof in the distance "Directly below is the jungle river, if you are lucky, you will catch a glimpse of a very special carnivore."

The cars were driving along a high ridge, overlooking a fast moving river. The river was enclosed by dense vegetation on either side.

"If you look hard enough you can see them now," the voice said, "_Dilophosaurs_."

Tails saw one by the river, crouched and drinking. Its body pattern was carnivore, thick tail, strong hind limbs, and long neck. The animal was at least ten feet tall. Its body was spotted with yellow and black.

"Wow," Cream said, "Their pretty."

"After some study," the voice said, "We now know that Dilophosaurs is poisonous."

"Hey," Tails grinned, "Sweet."

Cream shifted, "Are they really poisonous Mr. Jet?"

"Don't worry about it," Jet Regis said,

"Are they?"

"Yes Cream," Jet sighed, "But they can't hurt you."

The car went around a corner, and Tails looked forward again, poisonous dinosaurs!

"If you look right, just up ahead, you get to see the next set of herbivores in our prehistoric tour."

Tails saw three animals standing in the shade. Triceratops, they were about the size and color of an elephant. The horns above each eye curved at least five feet into the air, and the one on the nose seemed similar to a rhino."

"Unlike other dinosaurs, Triceratops cannot see well, they would charge at the car if they could see us. But don't worry we are safe were we are. Triceratopses have a fan shaped crest behind their heads, made of solid bone. They are actually quite docile. Now we will move on from these amazing creatures, to the next dinosaur. The most famous predator of all, Tyrannosaurus Rex."

"Sweet," Tails said.

The Land Cruisers moved forward.


	7. The Big Rex

The Big Rex

The Land Cruisers had stopped at the rise of a hill. They overlooked a forested area surrounding the lagoon. As everyone stared at the landscape it was actually possible to believe that they were in prehistoric times.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Jet said, "Sometimes I like to just sit here,"

Sonic wasn't impressed, "Where is the T-rex?"

"Ummm," Jet said, his voice crackling on the radio, "Good question. You usually see the little one down my the lagoon."

"The little one?"

"Yes we have a little rex. He's a juvenile, only two years old, a third of the way grown, stands eight feet high. And we have a full grown one, but I don't see him at the moment."

"Umm, why?" Sattler asked.

"Hiding maybe," Jet said, "He's a little shy."

Malcolm smirked, "Shy? Tyrannosaurus Rex is _shy?_"

"Well, he conceals himself. You almost never seem him in the open, especially in daylight."

"And why is that?"

"We think it's because he sunburns easily."

Malcolm started to laugh. Sattler looked out the window with a frown. Gennaro snickered.

Sonic sighed, "You are destroying so many illusions."

"I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed when you see him." Jet said, "You'll see.

They heard a bleating sound, and looked towards a open field, a small cage lifted into view, raised from the underground. The cage went back down, leaving the gate tethered in place. The goat stood there, bleating.

"Any minute now," Jet said.

They all waited and stared.

(Control)

"Look at them," Big grinned, "They're eager, they have come for the thrill, the danger."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Knuckles Muldoon frowned, "The danger." He twirled as set of key in his hand as he stared at the Land Cruisers on the computer screen.

Knuckles Muldoon, a strong echidna at the age of thirty-five years with striking purple eyes, he had seen is fair share of wild and dangerous animals. But Jurassic Park was everything he had ever seen and more….much much more.

He had spent most of his life in Africa, as a guide and big game hunter. He became well known and famous for it. Then, a little over a year ago, he was offered a job as game warden for Jurassic Park. He was longing to leave Africa, and the pay was good, so he agreed. He was astonished to find that the park actually had dinosaurs.

It was interesting, but because of the years spent in Africa, Knuckles formed an unpleasant view of animals. Park was no different, from Knuckles view, cloning dinosaurs was one thing, keeping them in control in the wild however…Was another thing entirely.

Knuckles thought that some of the dinosaurs were too dangerous for tourists. They knew so little about the dinosaurs. No one knew that Dilophosaurs was poisonous until it was observed biting a rat, and waiting for it to die. And nobody knew that they could _spit _the venom… That was until one of the handlers was nearly blinded when one dilophosaurs spit the man in the face.

After that, Big agreed to study the poison, which turned to be deadly if not treated immediately. They also discovered that the dinosaurs could spit a distance of fifty feet. Knuckles began to worry that they might spit at the passengers in the cars, and one of the guests might get blinded. Scientist then decided to try and remove the poison sacks, twice, both were failures. They couldn't find where they were hidden, and they never would unless they dissected one of the dinosaurs. And Big wouldn't allow it.

But it was the velociraptors that really worried Knuckles. They were smart, and they never passed up the chance to kill, ambushing was their instinct. They were fast runners and amazingly high jumpers. They had lethal claws on all four limbs, powerful jaws that ripped at flesh. They were far more intelligent than the other dinosaurs in the park. They seemed to be natural cage breakers.

All zoo keepers knew that certain animals could get out of their cages with ease, such as monkeys and elephants. Even moose could break free; they had a talent for it.

And so did the velociraptors.

Then as Knuckles feared, one of the raptors got out. It killed two workers and maimed a third before being recaptured. After that the visitor lodge had to be redesigned with a fence, electrical bars, and tempered glass windows. Knuckles insisted on weapons, and shoulder mount missile launchers. He knew elephants that were four tons were difficult to bring down, and some of the dinosaurs were twice the wait. Management was horrified; they wanted no guns in the park that was until Knuckles threatened to quit and go public on the whole project. After that, they gave him some weapons; they were kept in a locked room in the basement. Only Knuckles had the keys to this room.

Those keys he were the same ones he was twirling now.

"I'm going to the basement," he said.

Omega nodded, and looked back at the screen, where the Land Cruisers sat, waiting.

(Cruisers)

Sonic shifted in his seat, as he watched the goat tug on the tether. Suddenly the radio buzzed, it was the little girl, Cream. "What's going to happen to the goat? Is she going to eat him?"

"What never had lamp chops?" Jet Regis said.

"I'm a vegetarian," Cream stated.

"You are not," Tails said.

"Are too,"

"Are not!"

Sonic smiled slightly as Shelly turned down the radio, and all was quiet again.

Suddenly, "What is that smell," Gennaro said?

A putrid smell of rotted meat and decay filled the air, drifting up the hillside towards them. The goat was frantic now, racing back and forth on its tight leash.

Sonic whispered, "He's here."

"She," Shadow corrected.

The goat was about thirty feet away from the nearest trees, do the dinosaur must be in there somewhere. At first Sonic couldn't see anything, the he realized he was looking to low. He slowly looked up; the animal's head was twenty feet above the ground, half hidden among the branches.

Shelly let out a small gasp. "Omi-gosh…"

"Oh, Lord." Shadow said, "He's as large as a bloody building….."

"She…." Sonic corrected. Shadow flashed him a look, before quickly looking back at the animal.

Sonic stared at the enormous head; it was five feet long, a dirty red brown, its jaws and fangs massive. But the animal did not emerge from its hiding spot.

Shelly whispered, "How long will he wait."

"Well, not sure," Jet Regis said over the radio, "It could be three to four minutes. Maybe-"

The tyrannosaurs dashed forward, covering the distance in four massive bounds. She swooped her head down, and with a sickening crunch, the bleating of the goat stopped. Standing over her kill, the T-rex became hesitant. Looking slowly around.

"Can she see us?" Shadow asked,

"Yes," Jet said.

The T-rex stared up at the cars at the hill, "Let's see if she stays," Jet said, "Or if she eats in front of us."

The T-rex stared for a moment longer, before bending down and began tearing the flesh of its prey.

"She's staying," Jet smiled.

The T-rex lifted her head again, ragged pieces of meat hanging from her jaws. She stared at the Land Cruisers and began to chew; they all heard the sounds of bones crunching.

"Ewww," Cream said.

And then, as if caution got the better of her, the T-rex picked up the remains of its kill and walked away.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the tape said, "_Tyrannosaurus rex_."

"I have to admit," Shadow said as he leaned back in his seat, "That was fascinating."

Mighty looked out the window, he seemed a little pale.

**Meanwhile back at Control….**

Charmy Wu flew silently into the control room. Omega and Big were watching the glass screen which had a view of the inside of the Land Cruisers. Mighty Gennaro's voice buzzed over the small speakers in the room.

"Jeez, if that animal got out," Gennaro was saying, his voice tiny over the speaker, "there'd be no stopping it."

"No, no stopping it…" Dr. Grant said slowly.

"It would have no natural enemies,"

"My lord, think of it….." Malcolm said.

In the control room Big let out a growl, "Damn them, the keep thinking the animals will escape. Why are these people so damn _negative?_"

Charmy felt slightly insulted that the visitors still thought the animals could escape. He felt angry that they believed he would ever create such animals to do that. "I don't understand, we proved to them we have the animals under control…."

"It's that Shadow Malcolm," Big said, "He's behind it all, he's the one who's been doing it from the beginning, he's going panic Gennaro into closing the park."

"Can he do that?" Charmy asked, nervous.

"No, but he can try…..he can try."

"We'll just see how it plays out," Omega said, "We all believe that park will work, so let's wait for it to work."

(Page Break)

Knuckles stepped of the stairs and opened the door to the basement. Over dozen Land Cruisers sat in neat rows, their electrical motors waiting to be used.

In the back corner, was a Jeep, this one had a red stripe running through it. It was one of the two gasoline powered Jeeps. Silver Harding had taken the other one which allowed him to get to just about anywhere in the park, even among the animals. The jeeps had the red stripes to prevent the Triceratops from ramming the cars.

Knuckles moved past the car, to a cabinet in the back. Knuckles unlocked the steel door and pulled it open. Gun racks filled the interior, and Knuckles pulled out a Shoulder Launcher, he grabbed two rockets with his other arm.

After locking the cabinet he placed the launcher and the rockets in the back of the jeep. He nodded content, and walked towards the garage exit not before pausing however, to notice the sound of thunder in the distance.

(Page Break)

"Hmmm," Jet said, "Looks like rain." He glanced up at the sky which was now darkening.

The cars stopped in front of the sauropod swamp. A herd of apatosaurs were grazing, eating the upper branches of the palm trees. Nearby a herd of duckbilled hadrosaurs rested in the shade of palms.

The recorded voice droned on and Tails let out a yawn, the darkening sky was making him feel slightly down. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the cars moved on. Tails look back and the duckbills and blinked. He squinted his eyes and gasped as a small yellow animal darted by. He knew what it was almost instantly.

"Stop the car!"

(Page Break)

"Stop the car!"

Sonic jumped slightly at the sound of the Tails yelling over the radio. He looked at the said device in front of him, just as Mighty leaned over and pressed the button. "What's going on over there?"

"What is it?" Jet Regis was asking.

"Stop the car, turn around, augh! Just do something!" Tails said.

"Tails what is it?" Shelly asked.

"I saw one, in the field!"

"Saw what!"

"A _raptor! _Stop the car! It was in the field back there!"

"I don't think so Tails," Jet Regis said, "It was probably a baby duckbill, not a raptor."

"I did, I did see one! Stop the car!"

Sonic pushed the button, "Where again?"

"In the field Dr. Grant, it was in the field."

"Regis, maybe we should go back and look."

Jet paused, "Well you see, we sorta can't, it's kinda a ride-"

Shadow reached over Sonic's seat and pressed the button, "Tails, this is Professor Malcolm," he said, "I have a question for you, how old was the raptor you saw?"

"The raptors we saw in the holding pen were adults right?" Tails asked.

Shadow nodded to himself, "Yes."

"Well, they were about six feet tall, and the one I saw was about half that size." Tails said, "Sorry I only saw it for a second, but I know it was a raptor."

"That is fine Tails," Shadow said, and then he leaned back into his seat.

"I'm sure it wasn't a raptor," Jet said, "It most likely was a compys they are always jumping the fences."

"I know it was a raptor," Tails said.

(Control)

Back at control, Omega glanced over at Charmy who seemed a little stunned, "Do think the kid actually saw a raptor?"

"No," Charmy said shaking his head, "It had to be a compy."

"That really annoys me," Big frowned, "The fact we built this park to amaze and wonder the world, and they look right past it."

"Well that's their problem," Omega said, he turned to his computer as the intercom clicked. "Omega, this is _Victoria Queen. _We're over at the dock, we haven't finished unloading but there is a storm coming from the south. I would rather not be tied up here when it hits."

"How much cargo left?"

"Three canisters of equipment, but you should be fine, for another two weeks."

"So you're asking permission to leave,"

"Yes sir."

Omega looked over at Big, "I want that equipment," Big said, "We need it for the labs."

"True," Omega said, "But you didn't spend the money for a storm barrier, and if a ship is stuck on the dock when the storm hits, it could not only sink the ship it could destroy the dock. So you can't get supplies until you fix the dock…."

Big frowned, and after a moment, he turned away, "They can leave."

Omega turned back to the radio, "Permission to leave _Victoria Queen_."

"See you in two weeks sir." And the radio cut off.

Omega turned back to the main counsel and watched the Land Cruisers move through a field, its tall grass bending in the wind.

Knuckles walked into the room "Where are they now?"

Omega looked over, "They are getting close to the Stegos, isn't Silver Harding down there today?"

Knuckles nodded.

"Alright then" Omega said, "Then they will probably stop to see what he is up to."

(Cruisers)

Shelly Sattler looked out the window and over Shadow's shoulder as the car slowed to a stop. Among the herd of Stegosaurs was a jeep with a red strip running through it, and a white hedgehog kneeling near a Stego.

"You remember our vet," Jet Regis said over the radio, "Silver Harding, he is studying the Stego, its sick."

Sonic had already opened his door, and was quickly making his way to the Stego. Shelly swiftly opened her door, and looked over to see the other car stop and the two kids jump out. "Wonder what he is sick with." Tails said.

"I don't think they know," Mighty said as he got out of the car.

The group walked over to Silver and Sonic who were kneeling on the wet ground over the still animal, they were looking in its mouth.

"Eww," Cream gagged, "What is that smell?"

Shelly sniffed the air slightly, the odor coming from the dinosaurs smelled somewhat like rotting and dead fish. The odor was unusual for an herbivore; it was the meat eaters that gave of the real stench. Like how the T-rex so well demonstrated earlier. The odor however reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Shell," Sonic said, "Look at its tongue."

Shelly kneeled down next to him and peered inside, the tongue was covered in blisters. "Interesting."

"We always seem to have problems with the Stegos" Silver said, "They always seem to be getting sick."

"Symptoms?" Shelly asked, as she scratched at the tongue with her fingernail, A slightly yellow like clear liquid oozed out of the broken blisters.

"Uh, ew." Cream said.

"Lack of balance, labored breathing, and massive diarrhea," Silver explained, "Seems to happen every six weeks or so,"

"How often do they eat?"

"Continuously, they are large animals and are constantly forging."

"Hmm," Shelly frowned, "Then it can't be from the poisonous plants, continuous eating, means they would constantly be sick."

"Yes," Silver said, "They have a range of about five miles, and they come through here about once a week. They travel the whole range in just one week. They don't eat the Indian Lilac in the meadow here. They know it's poisonous, we even checked their droppings to be sure."

"Yet they only get sick every six weeks."

"Yes."

Shelly got up and began looking around for clues. Peering under bushes and checking the plants.

"I'm bored." Cream whined.

Shelly looked around at the ground, it was extremely rocky, and some berries grew among the stones. But the Stegos wouldn't eat them, they Indian Lilac berries tasted bitter, unless…..

"Find anything?" Sonic asked, breaking her from her train of thought.

"Uh, no, just rocks," Shelly frowned, "Must be a beach nearby because a lot of the stones are worn smooth. That, and they are also in funny little piles."

"Funny little piles," Sonic asked.

"Yep, there is a pile over there." Shelly pointed.

Sonic walked over and kneeled over the pile. "Shell, these are gizzard stones."

Some animals were known to swallow stones to help crush the food in the digestion system, apparently the Stego did too.

"Omi-gosh your right," Shelly said, she turned to Silver who was some yards away, "Dr. Harding, I think we found the problem."

Silver ran over, "What is it."

"They Stegos, swallow gizzard stones, they spit them back up after awhile, in a couple weeks the stones run smooth they swallow them again." Shelly said, "And as you can see," She gestured towards a pile, "They swallow the berries that grow among the stones as well."

"Damn," Silver smiled, "I'll head to the jeep radio control and tell them the news." He turned and ran back towards his jeep.

Shelly smiled and looked over at Sonic, who grinned and began digging through the stones, brushing his gloved hands lightly over them, a natural paleontologists instinct.

He froze suddenly.

"Shelly…"He said, "Take a look at this."


	8. The Chaos Theory

**The Chaos Theory**

"Come on right in the glove!" Cream cried. Mighty Gennaro sighed as he threw the ball at her.

She threw back so hard, he winced as the ball stung his hand, "Hey, take it easy would ya? I don't have a glove."

"Wimp." She teased.

His annoyance grew, and Mighty chucked it at her. He heard a loud smack as the ball hit leather. "There you go!" she said.

Looking over at Shadow who was standing by the still Stego, he continued to play catch, "So how are you so sure that the animals have escaped already."

Shadow looked at the sky, "It's predicted to happen."

"In your chaos theory?"

"Yes."

"How so?"

"Well," Shadow paused, "The world thinks you can control things. They think they could predict the weather, predict the path of a tornado, where a lightning bolt will strike. The chaos theory throws all of that out the window. Big Hammond, a rich old man, thinks he can control these animals. Just like the rest of the world thinks they can control Mother Nature. Well, for one, nature will always fight us, and two, no one has seen a dinosaur before. How can they predict the patterns of something that has never been seen by the modern world?"

"So that is your answer?" Mighty said.

"Yes."

Silver walked up from his jeep. "You seem pretty set on sending the park crashing to the ground don't you?"

Shadow glanced over with a evil grin, "I know it will."

Silver sighed, "Look, I know you think the park will fail. And to be honest with you I don't like all the animals in the park, like the raptors, they creep me out. But could you at least give the park a chance. It isn't actually that bad and besides." Silver grinned, "I'm pretty sure Omega showed you we have everything under-"

He stopped short to hear yelling in the distance. He and the others looked over to see Sonic and Shelly waving their arms and shouting.

(Control)

Amy Rose walked into the control room, and Charmy looked over, "How was the raptor?"

Amy smiled, "She's good. I finally have her down for a nap."

"Silver just called," Omega said, "He's says they figured out the problem for the Stegos, it had something to do with them eating berries."

"I knew they would figure that problem out sooner or later." Amy said.

Knuckles looked at the video screen. "What in the world are they looking at?"

(Page Break)

"You can't be serious." Mighty asked. "It isn't very impressive." He was holding a small white fragment, no bigger than a stamp in the palm of his hand. "You sure about this Grant?"

"Totally," Sonic said, "They patterns on it say it all, can you see them."

"Yes I can."

"Well I've dug up two eggs in Snakewater with the same exact patterns as this."

"Wait a minute, your saying this is a fragment of a eggshell? A dinosaur one!"

"It could be a bird egg." Silver said, "We have dozens of species on the island."

"No it is defiantly dinosaur." Sonic said, "Take a look for yourself, I bet you've seen plenty of bird eggs being a vet."

Silver took the fragment and examined it for a second, he sighed, "Your right it isn't a bird egg."

"I thought the dinosaurs were all girls?" Tails said. "Mr. Wu, said they couldn't breed."

"Well," Shadow said, "Apparently they can."

"But the big question is how," Silver said, "We make sure that each dinosaur we make is female, so how are they breeding?"

"All I know," Shelly said, "Is that is defiantly a dinosaur egg, look how thick the shell is."

Shadow looked at Sonic, "Do you know the species?"

Sonic nodded solemnly, "Yes," he sighed, and looked at the piece of eggshell.

"It's a velociraptor egg."

(Control)

"That's crazy!" Amy gasped, "That's absolutely crazy!" As Silver finished the report over the radio.

"It must be a bird egg." Big insisted.

They watched as Shadow took Silver's radio, "Let's run a test. Can you display the cart on the computer screen in Silver's car?"

"Yep," Omega said. He pressed a couple of buttons and in a few seconds the computer on Silver's dashboard showed the chart.

As expected it only displayed two hundred and thirty-eight animals.

"There, you see," Big said, "No extra animals."

"Mmmm-hmmm," Shadow said, "Whatever, now, Omega could you make the computer search for a different amount of animals?"

"Like what."

"How about two hundred and thirty-nine?"

"Give me a sec."

Omega typed a couple of key and the screen went blank and a new one appeared. It read out, two hundred and thirty-eight animals expected, and two hundred and thirty-nine found.

"What the…" Big said.

"We picked up another compy," Omega said.

"Okay, then," Shadow said, "Ask the computer to look for a bigger number, like, three hundred animals."

"I don't understand where he is going with this." Big said.

"I'm afraid I do." Omega said as a number appeared on the screen.

**Total Animals 239**

**Total Animals 244**

"Two hundred and forty-four?" Big said, "What is the computer doing?"

"The computer is counting the animals in the park," Charmy said.

"_All_ the animals" Omega said.

Big turned angrily to Ivo who was staring at the screen in mild shock, "This is your fault isn't it? You screwed up again!"

Ivo looked over, "No I didn't, the computer allows the operator to type in the number of animals it is expected to find. The computer was designed that way, it wasn't a flaw."

"He's right," Omega said, "And we always put in two hundred and thirty-eight, because we assumed there couldn't be any more."

**Total Animals 265**

"Wait a minute this has to be a glitch," Big said. "It has to be counting field mice or something."

"That's probably what it is," Omega said, "But we'll find out in a moment."

Amy looked at Charmy, "The animals can't breed, can they?"

"No," Charmy said.

**Total Animals 272**

Amy covered her mouth and Knuckles paled slightly.

"Where are they coming from?" He said

"How should I know," Charmy said.

The continued to watch the number climb.

**Total Animals 284**

Over the radio they heard Shelly gasp. "Good lord," Silver mumbled.

"Shit," Mighty was saying, "How many more are on this damn island?"

The screen flashed and error message.

**ERROR: 300 Animals Not Found**

"An error," Big said, "See, there isn't any extra animals it was all just an error."

Not a moment later, the screen printed up new chart.

**Total Animals 292**

**Species /Expected/ Found/ Ver./**

Tyrannosaurs/ 2/ 2 /4.1/

Maiasaurs /21 /22 /?/

Stegosaurs/ 4/ 4/ 3.7/

Triceratops /8 /8 /3.2/

Procompsognathids/ 49/ 65/ ?/

Othnielia /16 /23/ ?/

Velociraptors/ 8/ 37/ ?/

Apatosaurs /17 /17 /3.1/

Hypsilophodomtids/ 33 /34 /?/

Omega felt the cigarette fall out of his mouth, the list went on, and most animals had the same number except for five, but still…There were 292 animals in the park.

"37 velociraptors…" Amy mumbled in the back.

"Crap," Knuckles said.

"You see," Shadow said, "You designed the computer to warn you if a dinosaur went missing, your real problem was that you had to many."

"Damn," Omega said.

"We can't have more," Charmy protested, "We know exactly how many we have released into the park.

"Sorry Charmy," Shadow said, "But the animals are breeding."

"No," Amy said, "They can't be."

"Look," Shadow said, slightly annoyed, "Dr. Grants egg shell proves it, and so do many other clues. This graph shows that the animals are breeding."

"I don't see how." Charmy said.

"They're breeding, the compys they othnielia, the maiasaurs, the hypsys- and the velociraptors."

"Great chaos," Knuckles said, "The raptors are wild in the park."

"Well it isn't that bad," Big said, eyeing the screen, "We have and increase in only three categories-well, five. Very small increases in two of the categories….."

"What do you mean, 'it's not that bad?'!" Charmy snapped, "Are you crazy! Don't you know what this means?"

"Yes I do Charmy," Big said, "It means you screwed up."

"I did not,"

"The animals are breeding Charmy. In the park Charmy….."

"But they are all female," Charmy said, "It just doesn't make sense. I mean look." He pointed at the chart, "There are small increases in the large animals and big increases in the small animals. It makes no sense. So quit blaming me, these animals shouldn't be breeding. This is all a mistake."

The radio clicked, "Actually not," Sonic said. "I think these numbers confirm there are at least seven different breeding sites on the island."

(Page Break)

Tails looked up at the sky as thunder rumbled in the distance. The sky was getting darker, the storm would be here soon. Tails looked back at the adults, Dr. Grant and the others were leaning against the doors of the jeep, staring at the screen on the dashboard. They had been discussing something about the animals breeding. They all seemed really serious, the lawyer look pissed. It scared Tails.

"Breeding sites" Mr. Wu was asking over the radio.

"Yes," Grant said, "Nests. Assuming the average nest has about eight to twelve hatching eggs, the compys would have two nests, as would the raptors, the other three groups would have one nest each."

"Were are the nests then?" Wu asked.

"How the heck should I know!" Grant said, "I'm a paleontologist not a animal tracker, but I do know some things. I know that the dinosaurs built their nest in secluded places. But we will have to find them."

But what about the big animals, why are there so few?" Wu asked.

"The compys and the velociraptors probably stole the eggs, or hunted the young ones," Grant said.

"But we never have seen one," Omega said.

"Raptors were believed to be nocturnal," Grant said, "They probably hunted at night. Is anyone watching the park at night?"

There was an odd silence.

Tails watched as Dr. Sattler rubbed her forehead. Professor Malcolm mumbled, "You have got to be kidding."

"Yeah I didn't think so," Grant said.

"That still doesn't explain how they survived," Wu said, "Fifty extra eggs, how did they manage to feed them."

"No," Sonic said, "I assume they were eating something such as mice or rats."

Another silence.

"Let me guess," Grant said, "When you first came here to the island, you let say…..Had a rat problem, but over time it faded away."

"We just assumed…." Omega said.

"Look, the fact remains," Wu said, "Is the animals can't breed."

Tails watched Dr. Grant pause, then, "Actually I think they can. You said you often had only fragments of dinosaur DNA. Is that correct?"

"Yes,"

"And you used the DNA strands of other animals to fill it in correct?"

"Yes, birds, and sometimes reptiles."

"Would amphibian DNA be included? Mostly frog DNA?"

There was a pause over the radio, "Possibly," Wu said, "I'd have to check."

"Check, I think you might have your answers there." Dr. Grant said.

"Frog DNA? Why frog DNA?" Malcolm asked, "Where are you going with this Grant?"

"Look," said Gennaro, "The more important question is: Have any of the animals gotten off the island yet?"

"There's only one way to find out," said Sattler "Is to find the nests and count the eggs. From there we can determine how many hatched, and if any are missing."

"Perhaps," Malcolm said, "But how are you sure that they weren't killed from natural causes, or actually left the island?"

"Not sure yet," Grant said, "But we probably get more information from the population graphs."

"How are we going to find the nests?"

"Actually," Grant smirked, "The computers should be able to help us with that."

Cream tugged on Sattler's arm, "Can we go back now? I'm hungry."

"Cream!" Tails scolded.

"What? I am hungry!"

"Yes we can go back," Grant smiled, "You've been patient."

"We should be back in twenty minutes if we leave now," Jet Regis said, walking towards the Land Cruisers. Tails grabbed Cream's hand and they followed after.

Sonic watched them leave before turning back to Shelly, "I'll stay for awhile," she said, "I'm going to get photos of the stego with Silver's camera, those blisters in the mouth will be gone by tomorrow."

"Well I'll go back with the kids," Sonic said, "I'll see you at the lodge."

"I'll head back with you," Shadow said.

"Umm, I'll stay here with Harding and Sattler," Mighty said, "We'll come back in their jeep later."

Sonic gave him a funny look, "Uh, fine, I guess we better go then."

He and Malcolm walked away from the trio and towards the first Land Cruiser. Shadow said, "Wonder why our lawyer is interested in staying."

Sonic looked over with a mischievous smirk, "I think it has something to do with Shelly."

"Ahh, the lovely Miss, Sattler," Shadow grinned, "Right, you think it has to do with her legs, her hair, or her figure?"

"All three I'm betting, it's happened before," Sonic said slowly.

"Someone sounds jealous."

"Shut up."

As they walked up to the front Land Cruiser, Tails dashed up, "Can I ride with you Dr. Grant?"

"Sadly, Grant and I have an important conversation to attend to," Shadow said.

"But I can sit a be quiet, I'll just listen," Tails begged.

"It's a private conversation Tails," Shadow said.

"Tell you what Tails," Jet said walking up, "You, your sister and I will take the first car, while Malcolm and Grant talk in the last car. You can use the night vision goggles to see the park in the dark."

"Cool!" Tails cheered, and he ran for the first car.

"Hey I wanna use them too," Cream cried, chasing after him.

"No me first!"

"Aw, no fair! You always get to do everything first Miles!"

Jet paled slightly and looked towards Sonic, "I can already guess what the ride back will be like." And with that he walked towards the car.

(Page Break)

"I call driving," Sonic said, as he walked to the left side of the last Land Cruiser. Shadow opened the passenger door, "They are electronic, you can't drive them." Sonic shrugged, "So."

They climbed inside and settled in. A light blinked on the dashboard, there was a whir of gears and the cars moved forward.

Shadow sat quietly, oddly subdued as rain began gently falling in the falling light. Sonic looked over, "You must be vindicated that your theory was right."

"More dread actually…"Shadow said, "I believe we are at a very dangerous point now."

"Why?"

"Part of my theory was this island was extremely dangerous. Even far worse than I predicted." Shadow looked over, "You saw the chart, 37 velociraptors Grant, you know how they work, you saw, I saw, how they attacked us, and there are 37 of them out there…..On this island. Wild."

Sonic thought for a moment, "Yes, but-"

"To put it simply, we are the start of a long line of dominoes, each an event. And our domino, is threatening to tip over at any second."

Sonic yawned and looked out the window; they were on the coastal road. With a view of a beach and the ocean, the smell of volcanic sulfur was in the air. "Yes, but what if our 'domino' was tipped the other way, things wouldn't be so bad."

"That's what you think, but it will tip the right way, something bad will happen here, I'm not sure what, but it will happen." Shadow said solemnly.

At that moment, the car jolted to a stop.

"What happened?" Sonic said, "Wait, is this part of your theory."

Shadow looked out the windshield. "No, but I'm just as confused at what is going on."

In the front car, they kids were pointing at the ocean and talking excitedly. Offshore, a boat was pulling out, slowly moving towards the ocean. Sonic turned on the radio and instantly excited chatter poured forth.

"Did, you see it Tails, right there," Cream said.

"Are they talking about the boat?" Shadow asked.

Sonic shrugged and pressed the speaker button, "What's going on? Why did we stop?"

There was a shuffle and Regis voiced answered, "It's the kids, they think they spotted some kind of animal on the boat."

Sonic quickly grabbed the binoculars, and stepped out of the car. He scanned the length of the supply ship. Jet climbed out of the car and walked over, "Do you see anything?"

"No, it's too dark, there's light on the ship," Sonic said, "But I still can't see anything."

Cream stuck her head her window of the Land Cruiser, "They're low down, low, low, down."

Sonic went lower, it was quite dark now, and he could barely make out the details of the ship for everything was a silhouette.

"No nothing."

"Look in the back, they are in the back!"

Shadow walked up, squinting in the rain, "How can she see?"

"Kids can see," Sonic said, "They have a special touch we forgot we had."

He moved the binoculars toward the stern moving slowly. Then suddenly he saw them, the animals, darting among the structures of the ship. He saw the only briefly but that was all he needed. They were upright animals, balancing on stiff tails, only about two feet tall. He let out a small gasp.

"Do you see them?" Jet said.

"Yes I do," Sonic replied.

"What are they?" Shadow asked.

Sonic checked again, "My god," He said, "They're raptors. Two of them, juveniles."

"Jesus," Jet said, "That boat is on the way to the mainland."

"Now don't start panicking," Shadow said, "We just radio the control room and they get the boat turned around."

"Right." Jet said, he ran to the car and his upper body disappeared as he ducked inside. After a moment however, he stuck his head back out, "I can't something is wrong with the radios."

"Then let's get going." Sonic said.

(Page Break)

Knuckles watched from the large windows in the control room that over looked the park as the quartz lights turned on. It was 7 o'clock that was when all the lights turned on all over the island. He always liked watching, it was his favorite time of day.

"The cars are moving again," Omega said.

"Why did they stop?" Amy asked.

"They stopped at the coast," Omega said, "Maybe they stopped to watch the boat."

"Why can't we communicate with them?" Big asked.

"They could have shut off their radios."

"Or the storm is messing with interference," Knuckles said.

"Well whatever it is," Omega said, "We'll find out when they get back, I'm going to call the kitchen the kids will be pretty dang hungry when they get back." He picked up the phone but only got hiss, "What the! Ivo!"

Ivo Nedry looked over, "What?"

"Did you take the internal lines as well as the outer lines?"

"Yeah sorry about that, I needed them I'll clear a few up after the next transmission, but that will be about fifteen sixteen minutes." Ivo yawned, "It's going to be a long weekend for me," He picked up his bag, "I'm going to get a coke, don't touch my counsel." And he walked out.

"What a slob," Amy mumbled.

"Yeah," Omega said, "But he knows what he is doing."

(Page Break)

In the Land Cruisers, bright quartz lights glared down on them, Sonic picked up the radio, "How long does it take for the supply ship to make it to the mainland?"

"About sixteen hours," Regis replied, "I can't believe it though; there were raptors, _raptors, _on the boat.

"Any luck with control?"

"Ugh, no, it must be the rain."

"How about Harding,"

"Nope"

"How long till we arrive at the lodge?"

"Fifteen, sixteen minutes from here."

Suddenly Sonic felt the Land Cruisers slow, then stop. "Okay what did I touch?" he said angrily.

"You didn't touch anything," Shadow said slowly, "We just stopped."

"Why are we stopping, I don't wanna stop!" Cream was saying.

Suddenly the quartz lights sputtered, then went out. Drowning them all in complete darkness, Cream screamed.

"Calm down Cream," Jet Regis said, "It's probably just a power outage. We'll be up in a minute."

(Page Break)

"What the!" Omega said, staring down at all the monitors.

"What happened?" Knuckles asked.

""We lost power, but only on the perimeter. Everything in the building in working fine, but, outside however, in the park…. All the power is gone, cameras, lights, everything…."

"What about the Land Cruisers?" Knuckles said cautiously.

"They stopped somewhere near the tyrannosaur padlock."

"Well," Big said, "call Maintenance and get the power back on.

Omega picked up a phone but got static, "Damn, Ivo's computers are taking up the lines, where is Ivo! Where the hell is he!"

(Page Break)

Ivo pushed open the door marked FERTILIZATION. With the perimeter power out, every security card locked doors were disarmed. Every door opened with a simple push.

When Metal Dodgson had approached him on-let's say- double crossing Jurassic Park. Ivo happily said he could easily get past security in Jurassic Park. Being the system designer he placed a 'trap door' in the system, it was a piece of cake.

The embryos were arranged by species, opening the shaving cream can he quickly grabbed two of each. Closing the can he heard the hiss of the coolant begin its work. 36 hours of coolant, all the time he needed to get to San José.

He dropped the can in his bag and closed the door, walking quickly out of the main lab he smiled to himself.

Nobody would ever suspect what he had done.

He would be back in a few minutes fix up the 'problems' and everything would go back to normal. Walking to the main flower he nodded to the guard before heading down into the garage.

He dropped his bag in the passenger seat before starting the red jeep. There was some funky grey canisters in the back of the jeep. It sorta looks like rocket launcher, he thought as he drove the car out of the garage. He glanced at his watch, three minutes to the east dock, three minutes back.

It was as easy as pie.

(Page Break)

"Damn it," Omega said, "Where is he? They system is all screwed up.

Knuckles said nothing and looked out the big windows again. Overlooking the park, all the lights were off, except for the few surrounding the perimeter. The Safari Lodge still burned bright. A few personnel were attempting to escape the rain; no one seemed to know that anything was wrong.

"Uh-oh," Omega said, "We got a problem."

"What? What is it?" Knuckles asked, turning to face him. At that same moment, as he turned, he failed to notice the Jeep driving out of the garage and onto the east maintenance road. Into the park…

"That idiot Ivo turned off all the security systems," Omega frowned, the whole building is open."

"I'll go tell the guards," Amy said, running out of the room.

"Hmph, which is the least of it,"Omega said, "When you shut off security you, shut off all the fences as well."

"The fences?" Charmy asked.

"Yeah," Omega said, "The fences. They're all off, all over the island."

"Good Lord you mean…" Knuckles said

"The animals can escape," Omega said, he lit another cigarette, "Probably nothing will happen, but you never know." He tapped his metal arm nervously, "You never know….."

The animals had been in their pens for over nine months now, and every one of them brushed the fence at least once. They learned pretty quickly not to get close to the fence. But that doesn't mean-

"I'm going to go get the people from the Land Cruisers," Knuckles said, "Just in case."

"Good idea," Omega said, "You go do that."

(Page Break)

Knuckles practically ran down the stairs to the garage. He was rushing but he wasn't worried. He believed the same thing the Omega did, the animals knew better to get close to the fences. They learned quickly, it was unlikely that any of the dinosaurs would approach the fence.

He was more concerned about the people getting out of the cars. Because if the power came back on, the cars would move, people or no people. Of course they probably wouldn't leave the cars because of the rain. But still….you never know…..

He reached the garage and hurried toward the Jeep. He was lucky, that he had thought of putting the rocket in the vehicle beforehand. He could head right out and be there in-

"What the!" Knuckled stared at the empty park space before him.

The Jeep was gone!

What the hell was going on?


	9. Dominoes

**Dominoes**

Rain hit the car roof in steady rhythm. Sonic impatiently drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. How long did it take to get the blasted power back on? He glanced outside at the rain with a look of despair, he hated water, hated swimming in it, hated being in it, in exception to a shower. He may have loved the smell and sound of rain, but he hated the feel. He hated water. And here he was. Stuck. In. The. Bloody. Rain.

Shadow who had been sitting quietly looked over suddenly, "So is there a Mr. Sattler?" he said.

His thoughts broken, Sonic blinked, "Excuse me?"

"Sattler is she married, is she available?"

"What's it to you?" Sonic said slowly

"Just asking." Shadow replied.

"No seriously." Sonic said, "What is it to you?"

"Oh you know, the normal, always looking for the future Mrs. ex-Malcolm." Shadow smirked.

"Oh now that is just wrong," Sonic said, disgusted.

"Joking, joking," Shadow said, "I've never married. But you never know right."

"Uh-huh, she isn't available to answer your question by the way." Sonic said.

"Oh, she's taken then?"

"Yep,"

"By you?"

Sonic looked over sharply, "No! What is wrong with you?"

Shadow grinned evilly, making Sonic shudder, "Nothing, just trying to make conversation, you seemed bored."

"Well, your horrible at it," Sonic snapped, "Either we stop talking, or we drop the topic and talk about something other than what woman is available or not!"

There was silence as the both looked out the windshield. Shadow blinked then looked over, "Do you like kids then?"

Sonic looked over, slapping one of his hands softly against the wheel, "That is still about woman!"

"No it isn't" Shadow retorted, "It only is if you want it to be. I'm asking if you like kids."

Sonic paused, "Yes, yes I do, how about you?"

"Yeah, they're okay," Shadow said, "Tails and Cream are good kids though."

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, they are."

"I wonder what they are doing right now."

"Who knows?"

(Page Break)

Tails felt the night-vision goggles press heavily against his forehead. He turned around and looked out the back window, he could see Dr. Grant sitting in the back car talking with Malcolm. Dr. Grant looked at the car, and picked up the radio.

"Tails are you there?" There was a small wave of static, then, "Can you see us?"

Jet handed the radio over to Tails, "Yes Dr. Grant, I can see you."

"Everything okay?"

"Yes.

"Stay in the car okay."

"We will, don't worry." Tails said, and he let go of the button.

"Of course we won't be outside the car," Jet mumbled. "Why in the world would we get out of the car? It's pouring rain outside and he says stay in the car."

Tails looked towards the foliage; everything was hued in electronic black and greens. Tails smiled, it would be a real thrill to see the T-rex move around at night. The T-rex was probably a nighttime hunter as well as a daytime. The time of day didn't matter to the mighty T-rex. Tails wondered if a T-rex's eyes glowed in the dark. It would be neat.

The radio buzzed with static, "How long have we been sitting here?" It was Malcolm. Jet Regis gently took the radio from Tails, "Not sure, four of five minutes maybe. Are you okay back there?"

Grants voice cut in, "Oh we are just having a blast,"

Malcolm snickered, "Grant, you need to be more optimistic."

"Says the guy with the Chaos Theory."

"Shut up."

"Whatever."

Regis smiled blandly, and coughed slightly. There was a short silence, and "Anywho- I wonder what the problem is," Malcolm said.

"Probably a short circuit in the rain," Jet replied.

"Just to let you know Mr. Regis," Grant said, "We stopped when the rain was barely a drizzle."

There was a tense silence, "There won't be any lightning right," Cream whimpered. She had always been afraid of lightning, and she was currently sitting in the front passenger seat twisting her baseball glove in her hands.

"What was that," Grant asked, "We didn't quite catch that."

"Just my sister," Tails replied.

"Oh," Then silence.

Tails looked back down the hill towards the trees. Listening to the rain pouring down he began to get sleepy, he yawned. The rain continued pouring.

"Quite a storm," Jet mumbled.

Lightning flashed, Tails began to count. One….Two….Three….Four….

Thunder boomed and Cream whimpered, "Hey it's okay," Jet said, "Just lightning."

Tails continued looking at the palm trees on the left side of the road, he felt startled at a sudden thump as the ground shook. He swung his head to the back of the Jeep just in time to catch a small glimpse of a dark shape as it raced across the road between the two cars.

"Augh" Tails cried.

"What was it?" Regis asked.

"Tails are you there?"

Tails shakily grabbed the radio, "Yes, I'm here."

"Did you see Tails?"

"No," Tails said, "I missed it."

"What was it?" Malcolm cut in.

"Hold on," Grant hissed, then he changed tone, "Are you wearing the night-vision goggles Tails?"

"Yes, I'll watch for it again." Tails said.

"Was it the tyrannosaur?" Jet asked.

"No, I don't think so, it was on the road."

"But you didn't get a good glimpse?"

"No." Tails felt a little bad he had missed the animal, whatever the thing was.

There was another flash of white lightning, his night vision goggles flared bright green. He blinked a couple of times and stated counting. "One….Two…."

The thunder crashed, it was deafeningly loud and very, very close.

Cream began to cry, "Oh, no, no, no…"

"Take it easy honey," Jet said.

Tails looked among the foliage, with the rain coming down as heavy as it was, everything was moving, everything seemed alive. He scanned the leaves…..

And paused, there was something beyond the leaves. Tails looked up, higher. Behind the foliage, past the fence, Tails saw something; it was thick and pebbled, like the surface of a tree. But it wasn't a tree…He moved up even higher, sweeping the goggles up.

There it was the huge head of the tyrannosaur. It was just standing there, looking over the fence at the two Land Cruisers. Lightning flashed and it lifted its large head to the sky, aggravated. Darkness came soon after; it was all silent, nothing but pounding rain.

He felt the radio buzz in his hand. "Tails?"

"Yes, Dr. Grant."

"You see what it is?"

"Yes, Dr. Grant, I know what it is."

Tails suddenly realized Grant was speaking in a way that wouldn't scare is sister, clever.

"Tell, what is going on right now."

"Not much, it just is sitting there, on the other side of the fence."

"Okay, keep me updated."

Cream sniffled. Tails looked at the T-rex. It was looking at one car, then the other, and back again. It seemed to be glaring at Tails. In the goggles, the eyes glowed neon green. It was almost menacing.

Tails felt a chill run through his fur, he looked down slightly as the T-rex suddenly, had lifted it's small, yet muscular forelimb. It hung in the air for awhile, the then….

It grabbed hold of the fence.

(Page Break)

"Good Lord," Jet Regis said, he was staring wide eyed out the window.

_The greatest predator to ever roam the earth, the most fearsome animal in history, _andall the other facts were flying through Jet's mind. His knees were shaking hard, Great Chaos he was terrified. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be here alone, in the cars with all these people. He knew, he knew very well what happened in a dinosaur attack. He had seen the mauled and mangled bodies of the victims from the raptor attacks. But this was a T-rex. A bloody Tyrannosaurus rex. It was much bigger, much much bigger. It was the greatest predator that ever lived for goodness sake!

_Oh Great Chaos!_

He heard a rex roar, and when it did, it was terrifying, a scream from another world. He had to do something. He couldn't just sit there, he had to do something. _Anything._ He grabbed onto the dash, his hands shaking violently.

"Shit," he said.

(Page Break)

"Bad language," Cream scolded.

Tails heard a door open; he looked away from the rex to see Jet Regis step out of the car and race away in the pouring rain.

"Hey," Cream cried, "Come back, you'll get all wet!"

Jet just turned and ran to the opposite side of the road, away from the tyrannosaur, disappearing into the woods. The door of the car hung open, rain falling in.

"He left," Cream said, "Where did he go Tails. Why did he leave us alone?"

"Cream shut the door," Tails said. But his sister was starting to scream. "He left us, he left us!"

"Tails what is going on?" It was Dr. Grant, "Tails?"

Tails tried to reach for the door, but from the back seat he couldn't reach the handle. He looked back to the tyrannosaur that was temporally silhouetted as lightning flashed across the sky.

"Tails answer me, what is going on!" He heard Malcolm's voice follow after, "What the hell is going on over there?"

Tails blinked as his vision cleared, the tyrannosaur was standing in the same place, its hand on the fence.

Wait…..its hand was on the fence…

That meant the fence wasn't electrified anymore! _Crap. _"Cream, _close the bloody door!"_

The radio crackled, barely audible above the storm and Cream's screaming, "Tails!"

Tails grabbed the radio, he was shaking so bad he had to hold it with two hands. "I'm here Dr. Grant."

"What in the world is going on over there?"

"It's Regis," Tails said, "He ran away."

"He _what?"_

Malcolm spoke up, "He ran away? Why that bloody son of a-" his voice drowned out as a roll of thunder went off.

"He ran away," Tails choked out, he was terrified. "I think he saw that the fence wasn't electrified." Tails heard whispering.

"Great Chaos the fences, they are off?" Malcolm said, "Did he say that the fences aren't electrified?"

"Forget the bloody fences," Grant hissed, "What about the kids?" He let out a growl. "That jerk, how could he run off on them!"

Tails turned to his sister, "Cream shut the door." But his sister was screaming, "He left us, he left us!" in a endless wail. Finally Tails climbed out of the car, into the rain and slammed the door shut. He whipped around as suddenly the tyrannosaur began crashing down the fence with a giant hind limb.

"Miles!"

Tails jumped back in, slamming the door shut, the sound lost in the pouring rain. The radio: "Tails! Are you there?"

Tails grabbed the radio, "I'm here," he turned to his sister. "Lock the doors, get in the middle of the car, and please,_ shut up!" _Outside the car the tyrannosaur did an awkward step trying to get one of its feet from the knocked down fence on which it was tangled. Cream went wide eyed at the sight of the animal, and finally went silent, she went absolutely still.

"Tails?"

"Yes Dr. Grant?"

"Stay in the car. Stay down. Be quiet. Don't move, and please don't make any noise. You should be alright. I'm pretty sure it can't open the car door. Just stay down, and be quiet, we don't want to arouse its attention."

"Okay." Tails turned off the radio, "Did you get that Cream?"

She nodded, letting out a small whimper. Her gaze had not moved from the animal. The tyrannosaur roared as it pulled its foot free, reaching the cars in one bounding step. It stopped between the two cars; Tails could no longer see Dr. Grant of Professor Malcolm, because the huge body blocked his view. The rain ran down its pebbled skin like a million small rivers. Tails couldn't see its massive head, for it way beyond the view the window provided him.

The tyrannosaur moved to the side of the car. It dipped its head down right next to the spot where Tails had gotten out of the car, then where Jet Regis had gotten out of the car. It stopped there, its massive head only a foot from the muddy ground.

Tails looked back to see Dr. Grant and Professor Malcolm sitting in the rear car. Their faces were tense, as they stared forward through the windshield.

The huge head went back a little, its mouth opening and closing, its beady expressionless eyes staring, moving in the socket. Tails went stiff.

_It was looking in the car. It was looking for them._

Cream was now breathing in sharp ragged breaths. He reached out and put a reassuring hand on her back, hoping, praying, she would stay quiet. The dinosaur continued to stare through the window, Tails was beginning to think that the dinosaur couldn't see him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the animal lifted its head back up and out of view.

"Tails…." Cream whispered.

"It's okay sis," Tails whispered, "I don't think he saw us."

Tails went to look back at Dr. Grant went the whole car jolted. The Land Cruiser rocked and the windshield cracked in a spider web design as the tyrannosaur slammed it's head onto the hood of the car. Tails was knocked flat onto the seat. The night-vision goggles flew of his head.

Tails quickly pushed himself up, his head swimming. He blinked in the darkness, his mouth was warm and a coppery taste filled his mouth. Blood.

"Cream?"

He couldn't see his sister, without the night vision goggles everything was dark.

The tyrannosaur stood near the front of the car. Growling.

"Cream!" Tails whispered. He heard a groan. She was lying on the floor, somewhere under the back seat.

The head came back down again. Slamming down on the front hood of the car, Tails gripped onto the seat as the car shook. The carnivore hit the hood two more times, denting the metal.

Moving to the side of the car, the animal snorted out a deep rumbling growl, it practically blended with the thunder. It reached down and bite the spare tire mount on the back of the car, with a single shake of its massive head, it tore the tire clean off. The rear of the car lifted into the air for a moment, before dropping back the ground with a thump.

"Tails!" the radio buzzed. "Tails are you okay? Answer Me!"

Tails reached for the radio, but a metallic screech rang out. His heart was pounding against his chest, as the car lurched to the right. The radio flew away, disappearing into the dark. The tyrannosaur was leaning against the car, shoving and shaking it. There was a roar, and the roof of the car bent downward. Tails felt a sharp pain in his head, and he slammed against the transmission bump. He slumped to the floor and found himself next to Cream. He looked over to see the whole left side of her face cover in blood. She seemed unconscious.

There was another jolting impact. Pieces of glass fell al around Tails. The front windshield had broken, and the rex's large head was in front of him.

_It was looking down at him._

Tails felt his body grow cold, the tyrannosaur's head came down in a burst of speed. Metal screeched and a thick wet tongue slid in, but the mouth pulled back suddenly. Tails looked out the tyrannosaur; it seemed confused, blood dripped out of its jaws. It moved around the car, looking and searching.

He can't get to me, Tails thought. It's too big for the car.

A flash of lightning went off, and Tails saw a hind leg lift up into the air. The whole world titled before Tails's eyes and he screamed as the Land Cruiser slammed over on its side, mud covering the windows. Tails watched as Cream felt against the window, he fell down beside her, head banging against the window. He was dazed. There was the sound of metal screeching and the tyrannosaur bit down on the vehicle. The whole Land Cruiser lifted into the air and was beginning to shake.

"Tails!" Cream shrieked. She had woken up suddenly. Tails grabbed at her as the car went down crashing hard. Cream screamed and landed on top of him. The car went back up, tilting at a crazy angle. Cream screamed, "Tails!" he gasped as the car door gave out beneath her, and she fell out of the car and to the muddy ground below. Tails wanted to cry out to her, but the next instant everything swung into a blurr, He saw glimpse of tree trunks-the ground very, very, far away-the roar of the tyrannosaur-its large eye-the tops of the palm trees- all of it in a few split seconds.

And then, there was a shriek of metal, the car fell from the jaws of the tyrannosaur, it was a stomach-turning fall, and Tails's stomach heaved as the whole world went back.

(To The Other Car!)

"Holy shit," Shadow gasped, "Were did the other car go!"

Sonic leaned in, blinking as the lightning faded.

_The other car was gone._

So this is what Malcolm meant by dominoes. Sonic thought. He couldn't believe it. He squinted trying to see in the pitch black darkness, the rain streaked down the windshield making it even harder to see. The dinosaur was large; it could be blocking their view of the car…..

No, as lightning flashed once more, and Sonic clearly saw, the car was gone.

"What happened," Shadow said.

"I…..I don't know."

"Damn I hate being right sometimes."

A barely audible sound was heard over the rain, Sonic heard a sound of screaming. The dinosaur was standing just up ahead, it may have been dark out, but they could still see the dinosaur, it was stooping low to the ground sniffing.

Or it was eating something.

"Can you see?" Sonic asked.

"No," Shadow replied, "Not much."

Rain pounded on the car roof. Sonic listened, praying to hear a sound, a scream, anything. But he couldn't hear anything anymore. The two hedgehogs sat silently, listening.

"Was that the girl," Shadow said, finally, "It sounded like the girl right?"

"It did…..Yes" Sonic gulped.

"But was it her?"

"I-I….I don't know," Sonic said weakly. He suddenly felt sick, he felt a weariness overtake his body. His fur rippled slightly in horror. Through the blurred window, the tyrannosaur was making its way to the car, in slow strides, it was coming for them.

Shadow shifted, "I don't know about you….." He licked his lips, "But, you know, times like these, one feels like, well, perhaps these animals should have stayed extinct."

"Yes…..They should have," Sonic said slowly. His heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

"You're the paleontologist, any suggestions on what we should do now?"

"I can't think of a thing," Sonic said.

Shadow gripped the car handle for a second, before shoving the door open and ran. Sonic jerked his head over, "Malcolm wait!" But Sonic could see it was too late, the tyrannosaur was too close. Sonic watched in horror as the rex roared and leaped forward.

The next few moments seemed like a blurr now; he wasn't sure exactly what had happened next. Shadow was running, mud splashing. The tyrannosaur was next to him, it swung its massive head, and Shadow was gone, tossed in the air like a small doll.

By now Sonic was out of the car now, the cold rain stinging at his body and face. The tyrannosaur wasn't facing him, Sonic tensed; preparing to run for the woods, in the slim chance he might survive. Suddenly the tyrannosaur turned, it was facing him, and it roared.

Sonic froze.

He was standing right next to the driver's door, and he was partly wishing he had listened to his own advice and stayed in the car, but what good what that do? It certainly didn't work for the kids. He stood, completely exposed; the tyrannosaur was no less than ten feet away. Sonic felt his body shaking, not just from the cold, chaos he was terrified. He grabbed a hold of the car door just to steady his hands. This was it, he was going to die, he was going to die by the thing that fascinated him most.

The tyrannosaur roared, at close range, it made Sonic feel as if his ears would bleed. The tyrannosaur roared once more, but it did not attack him. It turned one at him, then the other, and looked at the Land Cruiser. But it did nothing.

_What in the moons of Mobius was going on?_

The tyrannosaur bellowed in rage. It stomped on the roof of the car with its hind leg, sliding off, it barely missed Sonic. Sonic however, stayed where he was, unmoving.

The tyrannosaur began moving around, roaring, stomping, splashing the mud. It slammed against the car and moved towards Sonic. Sonic rarely ever got scared, but now he was feeling faint with fear, his heart pounding. With the animal so close he could smell its breath. Blood, rotted flesh, decay, all of it.

He closed his eyes and tensed, waiting for the unavoidable.

The head of the tyrannosaur went past him, sniffing the rear of the car. Sonic peeked open and eye and blinked in surprise.

_What the?_

Could it be…that the animal could not see him? The tyrannosaur moved back, its nostrils inches from his body. It seemed puzzled, angry, it was searching.

The tyrannosaur seriously couldn't see him. Not if he stood motionless. And in the deep reaches of his scientific mind, he had an answer why-

The jaw opened the massive head swinging up. Sonic flinched slightly, but he forced himself not to move, trying desperately not to make a sound.

The tyrannosaur bellowed in the night.

It was all clear now. The rex was trying to scare him, force Sonic to move, to reveal his presence. The animal couldn't see him, but it sensed he was there. But if Sonic stood his ground, he was invisible.

Frustrated, the tyrannosaur circled the car, and the big hind leg lifted up and kicked the Land Cruiser. Sonic felt a sharp pain; he felt his body fly through the air. But even as he flew, everything was in slow motion He felt his body go numb, and watched the ground rush up to hit him in the face.


	10. Author's Message

**Hello everyone! It's me! I was going over my story a few days ago, Whincing at my gramical errors and such**

**when I notice that we have some size problems with our characters and dinosaurs. In the story, the adult humans are at _least _five feet to six feet tall. **

**And the rex is like twenty which is okay, but the raptors and dilphosaurs are six and ten feet. **

**Here is my problem Sonc and his friends rarely are above three feet! In future scenes I plan to have them face to face with the smaller dinosaurs.**

**So just in case they might end up wrestling with these animals, say a velociraptor. I'm making all the characters. minus Ivo, Charmy, Cream Tails **

**(After all they are kids, minus Ivo and Charmy) five feet tall. So if they get tackled by a six foot tall dinosaur, it is more likely for them to survive if they are a foot shorter that the dinosaur and not half the size.**

**I known it could be hard to image Sonic or Shadow that tall, but please bare with me. I mean who wants to run away from a four foot tall raptor. I'm taller than that! I know it's a stretch, but please try to image these guys as five footers. Thanks.**

**Please comment and rate. I would really appreciate it. :) **

**Yours Truly -SilverSilence.**


	11. Return

**Return**

"Oh, dang it," Silver huffed, "Dang it, Dang it, Dang it."

They were sitting in Harding's Jeep, staring ahead, past the windshield wipers, at a massive fallen tree in the middle of the road.

"It must have been the lightning," Mighty said, "Cause that is one heck of a tree."

"Well one thing for certain is we can't get past." Silver sighed, he reached for his radio, "I better call control, they need to know about this." He held the radio up, "Control, this is Silver, come in control." He paused as he got nothing but static, "That's weird, the radios are down."

"It could be the storm," Shelly suggested. "Why don't you try the Land Cruisers?"

Silver nodded and changed stations; they too, produced only static. "They could already be back at the lodge; they left over half an hour ago. They could be out of signal." Silver paused as lightning cracked, "Or it could be the storm….."

He turned the radio off and switched the vehicle in to reverse. "Well we can't stay here; it will take maintenance hours before they can get to the tree. Luckily we have another road; it's used by the handlers and the feed trucks. It's a little longer than the main road. It may not be as scenic, but if we're lucky then we might get to see the animals at night."

"Sounds cool," Shelly said.

"Better than staying here," Mighty agreed.

Silver nodded and swerved the car around, and headed south. Into the stormy night, and deep into the park.

* * *

><p>Lightning flashed, filling the control room with a blinding light. The lightning faded, and all the monitors went black. Omega held his breath, tense. Not now, please, please, not now. That was the last thing he needed right now- was to have everything go out in the storm. A single surge of electricity, in the right place, boom, no more computers.<p>

The screens flickered on, one by one. Omega let out a sigh, thank the Lord. He leaned back in his chair and lit another cigarette.

He began to wonder where the heck Ivo Nedry was, it had been five minutes, the guards should have found him by now. The idiot was probably sitting in the bathroom reading a comic book.

"Someone took the Jeep," Knuckles growled as he walked in, he took a chair next to Omega, "Have you gotten communication with the Land Cruisers yet?"

"Nope," Amy said.

"I've tried all six channels," Omega said, "I know they have radios, but they are not answering."

"Crap,"

"Yep."

"If you're still desperate to get them back here, you can take one of the maintenance vehicles." Amy suggested.

"No," Knuckles said, "The garage their held in is the east one. The east garage is over a mile from here. Usually I wouldn't mind, but because of this storm…." He looked up at Amy, "Where's Harding."

"Silver? Well, we presume he is on his way back." Amy replied.

"Then, he'll pick up the people in the Land Cruisers."

"Probably," Omega said.

"Anyone told Big that his kids aren't back yet?"

"Heck no," Omega said, "I don't want that old fool throwing a temper tantrum in here. Everything is fine at the moment, the cars are just going to have to sit there until we get the power back on or until Harding picks them up."

"So the systems still aren't working," Knuckles frowned.

"Nope," Omega growled, "Ivo did something to the system, and I can't seem to fix it. So we have to find that bloody jerk. We need him, and we have to find him right away."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Warning Electrified Fence <em>**

**_10,000 Volts_**

**_Do Not Touch_**

Ivo rolled his eyes as he pulled the gate open with his bare hands. Swinging it wide, he walked back to the Jeep, before driving through and closing the gate again.

He was now in the park itself, no less than a mile from the east dock. He pushed a little harder on the gas, he was driving on a narrow road, he was going fast-a little too fast- but he needed to get to the east dock.

"Blast this storm," He mumbled, he had planned for everything. He had made a clever plan, down to the very last detail. Planned it so he wouldn't be double crossed, wouldn't be caught, and wouldn't be noticed. He had planned it all.

Except for this damn storm.

He was beginning to feel nervous, it had been more than five minutes, and he still hadn't arrived at the east dock. Did he take a wrong turn? No, there had been no forks in the road. Suddenly the road ended, with a large concrete wall. Ivo let out a yelp and hit the brake the car skidding to a stop just a foot from the wall.

He took a minute to catch his breath before stepping out of the car, walking a little bit through the foliage; he heard the sound of rushing water. Crap! He was at the jungle river. He cursed, and cursed again. He has to abandon the plan now.

He had to get back to control. Call Metal; get him to have the boat come tomorrow night, after the call he has to erase the phone history. It would be hard, but he was sure he could pull it off. He just knew he had to head back to control, now.

Walking back towards the car, he cursed again and froze as he heard a hooting sound. There was a crashing sound in the underbrush. It was big.

Something big. Something near. A big dinosaur.

_Get out of here, get out of here now!_

Ivo ran. He made a lot of noise as he did, even so he could hear the animal, perusing him, hooting.

The brightness of the headlights made him feel a little better; he'd be in the car soon, back at control, safe. He ran around a tree and froze.

The animal was already there.

It wasn't extremely close, about fifty feet away. It was about ten feet tall, with yellow with black spots along the head were a pair of V shaped crests. It looked funny to Ivo. The animal did not move, just let out a small hoot.

Ivo waited to see if it would attack, but it did not. Perhaps the headlights of the car forced the animal to keep away, like a fire or something.

The animal stared at him, and then suddenly snapped its head in a single sharp motion. Ivo felt something wet smack him in the chest. He looked down to see a dripping glob of foam on his rain soaked shirt. He touched it with the tips of his fingers, not quite sure.

It was spit.

The bloody animal had spit on him. It was creepy. He looked back at the dinosaur and saw it snap it head again almost straight away he felt another wet smack on his neck. He wiped it away quickly with his hand.

Chaos it was disgusting. For some reason however, his neck began to tingle, as did his hand. It felt like he had touched acid.

He grabbed the car door, and pulled it open, looking over to make sure the animal hadn't moved. He felt a stabbing pain in his face, especially in the eyes. Squeezing his eyes shut. He immediately reached up and touched his face. He felt the same slippery substance dripping down the sides of his nose.

Spit.

The dinosaur had spit into his eyes.

Even as he figured it out. The pain kicked in, it was unbearable. He dropped to his knees, disoriented. He could see nothing but black and occasional flashes of white.

He was blind.

The hooting was suddenly louder. Ivo scrambled to his feet. He leaned against the car. The animal was getting closer. He could hear it snorting, but he couldn't see it.

He could see nothing, and his terror was over the extreme.

He struggled to find the entrance to the car. Desperately trying to escape the attack that he was sure was coming.

There was a searing pain across his stomach. Like a knife.

He cried out and reached down fingers brushing over a torn shirt, he grabbed hold of something thick and slippery. To his horror he knew he was holding his own intestines. The dinosaur had torn open his stomach.

He fell to the ground and landed on what felt like the dinosaur's foot. A new pain came from either side of his head. The pain increased as he was raised into the air. He suddenly knew that the dinosaur had his head in his jaws. The only this that followed by this horrible truth, was a wish that it would be over soon.

* * *

><p><strong>(A.N. Too gory? Let me know please.)<strong>

* * *

><p>"More coffee Charmy?" Big said politely.<p>

"No please no more." Charmy said slowly in response. "Thank you but I couldn't eat anymore."

They both were currently sitting in Big's bungalow, the dining room of course. The building was in a secluded corner, not far from the park labs. The building was rather elegant, and the food very good…...

But something bothered Charmy. He had been trying to figure it out all through dinner. And he was pretty sure he had an answer.

It was the fact, that the old man sitting before him, was being plain stubborn, and refusing to except the new situation about the park.

Charmy was planning to check the data on the dinosaur DNA like Grant had suggested, but Big walked in and insisted he come to dinner.

Everything now was in question. Was the park really in control? Were the animals really breeding? Had any of them gotten to the mainland? Where were the supposed nests? All of these questions and the old tom cat didn't seem to have a car in the world.

Charmy shifted in the awkward silence, he glanced up at a monitor. "Your monitor is still out Big."

"Is it?" Big looked up, "Oh it is, that means the telephone lines must still be down as well. I'm sure control has Nedry fixing it right now, in the end you know, we have to push that fool to work."

"Yes sir but I-"

"You know what my original goal for the park is Charmy," Big said, as if he never heard him.

Charmy sighed, "Yes sir."

"You know it was really mad for children," Big said, he paused as a waitress served them both ice cream, "I want to see the joy on their faces when they see the animals, seem them light up." Big frowned, "I mean, why waste advanced technology on disease or medicine, personally I would never help mankind with that."

Charmy sighed. He we go, he thought. He had heard this argument a thousand times.

Big continued, "I mean look at the world, if the medical field charges a thousand dollars for a dose of medicine. No one will pay it, they will be outraged. The world needs medicine. But the world does not need entertainment. I can charge, fifty thousand for a day at Jurassic Park, and who would stop me?" He smiled, "You do know that we will begin construction of Jurassic Park Europe, and Jurassic Park Japan next year?"

"Yes sir."

"They will both be done in four years. This park will produce over twenty million dollars a year Charmy, and when the other parks appear, it will exceed to 10 billion dollars. And the merchandise, too you know. I also don't see why we can't sell pets either, after all, that's what Dodgson believes we will be doing anyway."

"Twenty million." Charmy mumbled, shaking his head.

"The park will work Charmy," Big smiled, "I know it will. So, more ice cream?"

* * *

><p>"Where is he!" Omega snapped, "Have you found him?"<p>

The guard flinched, "No sir."

"_Find Him!"_

"I have reasons to believe he is not in the building," the guard said.

"Then check the lodge," Omega said, "Look at the maintenance building. The utility shed, look everywhere, find him!"

"The thing is…." The guard paused, "Is Nedry the fat human."

"Yes," Omega frowned, "He's fat, he's a fat slob that's what he is."

"Well Jimmy at the desk in the main lobby. He said that he saw a fat man go down into the garage."

Knuckles spun around to face them, "The garage! When?"

"About ten, fifteen minutes ago."

"Great Chaos," Knuckles said.

* * *

><p>The Jeep skidded to a stop, "Sorry" Silver said.<p>

Peering through the windshield, Shelly saw a herd of apatosaurs moving across the road. Six of the animals were as large as a house, the baby, bigger than a horse. They animals never looked at the Jeep, the baby paused to drink some water.

"Are they not afraid of us?" Mighty asked.

"Do they even see us?" Shelly asked.

"Sorta," Silver said, "They have a sense that we are here, but we don't mean anything to them. We hardly come through here at night, they just think we are foreign objects in their territory that pose no threat. I've had to head out into the park at night sometimes to tend a sick animal. And sometimes these big guys block the road for an hour or so,"

"So what do you do?" Shelly asked.

"Well," Silver laughed, "I play a recorded tyrannosaur roar. That gets them moving. But even the tyrannosaur doesn't bother them much, they are a lot bigger. They could break a rex's neck with a swipe of the tail."

"But can they see us?" Mighty said, 'Like if we got out of the car."

"Ehh, they probably wouldn't react. They depend on visual movement; they don't see things that aren't moving very well."

The animals moved on, shiny in the rain. Silver put the car into gear, "Better get going," he said.

* * *

><p>Charmy let out a frustrated huff, "You have to understand Big," he said, "We have a serious problem here at the park."<p>

"I don't see a problem," Big said.

"The problem! Is that there are animals in the park, breeding and wild." Charmy said, "People will try to shut us down-"

"Face the bloody facts Charmy," Big snapped, "This isn't America, this isn't even Costa Rica. This is my island, my island you hear? And they can't, they won't be shutting the park down." Big paused, "This is my island, I own it, and no one is stopping me form opening it. I will open Jurassic Park to all the children in the world, anthro and human alike." He smiled, it was a scary, slightly evil smile, "And trust me Charmy, they will love it."

* * *

><p>Shelly leaned back in the front passenger seat and sighed, sleepy. It had been twenty minutes since they had seen the apatosaurs and they were still driving through the rain drenched jungle.<p>

"I think we are close to the jungle river," Silver said, breaking the silence, "It should be somewhere over to the left-" He slammed on the brakes, and mumbled something before speaking out loud."Looks like your getting a show," Shelly looked out the window to see small green dinosaurs darting across the road. "Those are the compys."

"Procompsognathids," Shelly mumbled, she so wished Sonic were here to see this. But for all she knew he could be at the lodge eating, or even asleep. It was defiantly the animal they had seen in the fax back at Montana. The compys scurried across the road and leaned back on their hind legs, looking at the car, curiously chirping. Before moving on into the night.

"Odd though," Silver said, "I wonder where they're off to. The compys usually don't move at night. They climb the trees and wait for day."

"Then why are they out now?" Mighty asked.

"I can't be sure," Silver pondered, "They are scavengers, kinda like buzzards. They are attracted to a dying animal. They have sensitive smell, they can smell a dying animal for miles."

"Are they going to a dying animal?"

"Dying or probably dead?"

"Should we follow them then?" Shelly said.

"I'm kinda curious myself," Silver said, "Sure, let's do it. We can see where they are off to."

He turned the car around and followed after the compys.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, I'm very sorry. But I wanted it to end like that so yeah.<strong>

**Please review, it means a lot. Advise is also helpful. If you have any ideas or you want be to put Sonic or his friends in a different story/movie, reveiw then.**

**Thanks!**


	12. Tails

**Yay He isn't dead! Aren't you proud of me for not killing a kid? **

**Oh by the way if you think the story and to much language let me know, and I'll edit out, or change the rating. It's T for teens so it should be fine. Teens have a tendancy of cursing now and then. **

**Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And I'll say it again and a thousand more times.**

**Please Review! It would mean a lot! Thanks.**

**Yours Truly- SilverSilence**

* * *

><p><strong>Tails<strong>

Tails Murphy groaned slightly. He was still in the Land Cruiser; he left cheek pressed against the driving wheel. He slowly drifted into a dazed consciousness. He wished he could just sleep. Shifting positions, he winced as he felt pain in his cheek bone. His whole body was hurting. His arms, his legs and mostly his head-it was pounding, the pain, right behind his eyes, was nearly unbearable. All this pain, wanted him to just go back to sleep.

He pushed himself up on one elbow, opened his eyes, he gagged, and heaved. Vomit spilled out all over his shirt. He groaned, his mouth tasted like the disgusting bile, he whipped his mouth with his arm. His head was still throbbing, he felt dizzy and seasick, and the whole world seemed it was moving. It was rocking back and forth, like a boat.

He pushed himself away from the puddle of vomit and rolled onto his back. His breath was short and sharp. Opening his eyes he tried to get his bearings. He was lying against the driver door of the car. The vehicle was on its side, and he stared up past the passenger seat, out the broken window and beyond. The rain had lightened up into a drizzle, some drops fell on his face from the window above.

He stared at the broken front windshield, confused, he couldn't figure out why the window was broken. He could only remember a few things. The car had been stuck on the road, and he had been talking to Dr. Grant before the tyrannosaur came. That was the last thing he remembered.

He felt sick again. Why is the car moving? He thought. The whole car was moving. Taking a deep breath he slowly stood up, balancing on driver's door he peeked over the dashboard and out the windshield.

He could only see branches swinging back and forth in the wind. But there were gaps, beyond the foliage, the ground-

_The ground was twenty feet below him._

"Crap."

What was he going to do? Tails pushed on the steering wheel, trying to get a better view. The wheel spun free of his grip, turning the tires outside. There was a loud crack and the car dropped a couple of feet.

"Crap, crap, crap," Tails said over and over.

There was another loud crack and the car jolted down a foot. He had to get out of here. He looked down at the door he was standing on, it was seriously dented, and most likely wouldn't budge, and he climbed around the car, sweating nervously as the car creaked. He reached for the rear left door and twisted the handle. It didn't budge.

He had to get of here!

Desperately pushing against the door and twisting the handle. Tails begged mentally for the door to open. He paused, and saw the solution to the problem. The door was locked. Pulled the knob and twisting the handle he shoved the door. It swung out and landed with thud against a branch. Tails gulped and began crawling across the door, reaching for the nearest branch.

The door gave way beneath him.

Tails screamed as he fell. Leaves and branches were smacking him in the face. He slammed to a stop and he let out a gasp. The wind knocked out of him. Tails lay over a large branch, his stomach screaming in pain.

He heard another crack. Tails looked up groggily to see the Land Cruiser, five feet above him. Another crack. The car shifted.

He groaned in pain and forced his body to move. He used to climb trees. He had been a good tree climber, but right now he hated every moment he spent in this piece of nature.

_Crackkkk…_

Yep, that car was most defiantly moving.

Tails scrambled downward, his hand slipping on the wet branches. He moved a couple more branches down. There was a loud snap and the car fell, stopping again with a bang. Right on the branch that Tails had been on two seconds earlier. Tails looked up, he was only inches from the grill, oil dripped out, onto his fur. He gagged in disgust and continued climbing. The branches groaned and bent under the weight of the Land Cruiser. Tails forced himself to climb faster.

The branches snapped and the car fell. Tails looked down; he was twelve feet from the ground. There was no way he would escape the car fast enough. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Tails just let go.

He fell the rest of the way.

He fell onto the soft ground and rolled. Quickly pushing himself against the trunk, he screamed as the car hit the ground. There was a wave of sparks, singeing his fur, and a sizzling noise. Then silence.

Tails, slowly stood and leaned against the crumpled Land Cruiser. He groaned and threw up again. Pushing away from the car he began walking through the trees. He had to find the others. But he didn't want to get lost. He knew he was somewhere in the park. Close to the main road most likely. If only he knew exactly where he was. It didn't help much that he couldn't see in the dark-

The goggles.

He went back and climbed through the shattered windshield. The goggles were sitting on the floor, the radio next to it, however the radio was silent and broken. So Tails left it.

How long had it been since the attack? Tails looked down at his watch, he frowned. The face was broken. Taking it off, he threw it on the ground and began walking.

Wearing the goggles he could see the battered fence to his left. Quickly walking over he stared in horror to see the other Land Cruiser on its side. He took a deep breath and ran up to it. Peering inside he let out a moan, no one, no Dr. Grant, nor Professor Malcolm.

Where were they?

Tails felt panic begin building up inside. Something pale on the road caught his eyes; he ran over to it and picked it up. Wiping the mud of it, Tails gasped. It was a baseball.

"Cream!"

Tails ran around, screaming as loud as he could. He didn't care if the animals heard him or not. He listened for an answer, but he got nothing.

"Cream!"

He remembered her falling out of the Land Cruiser. Did she get away? Or did she… He wouldn't think of it, it made him sick to his stomach to think of it.

"Cream!"

The night seemed to close around him. Panic built, and he hugged his arms, feeling sorry for himself. He heard whimpering. It was faint; and it was coming from farther up the road.

* * *

><p>"How long has it been?" Amy asked, as Knuckles walked into the control room carrying a black metal case.<p>

"About a half an hour." Omega said.

"Silver should have been back by now." Knuckles frowned.

Omega sighed, "I'm sure they'll arrive any minute now."

"While we wait," Knuckles said, he opened the case, revealing a 5 radios "I'm going to distribute these throughout the building." He handed one to Omega, "Take one, you need the charger too. These are our emergency radios, but naturally no one has charged them. Give it twenty minutes then call the cars."

* * *

><p>Charmy flew down the hall, nervously buzzing. Grant had been right. Charmy went to the <em>Fertilization <em>room right after dinner and checked the data. The animals that were breeding had frog DNA in their DNA structures.

He had also noticed that someone had been in the freezer, but that wasn't important at the moment. The important fact was that he needed to tell Omega, or Knuckles right away about the DNA. None of the dinosaurs were breeding except for the ones with frog DNA in them. Charmy still wasn't sure what Frogs had to do with it. But Grant had been right; he couldn't deny it any more. The dinosaurs were breeding.

He hurried on to the control room.

* * *

><p>"Augh, Great Chaos that hurt." Sonic said as he opened his eyes. He had regained consciousness a few minutes earlier, but had just lain were he was, trying to remember everything.<p>

He remembered talking to Tails. Then the car disappeared, and the rex came for them. The Malcolm, oh good Lord Malcolm. What had happened to him?

Sonic slowly pushed himself up, and stood. He took a step forward and let out a sharp cry. Falling hard onto the pavement he grabbed his right ankle. It burned like acid. He could have twisted it. Running his hand over the sensitive spot he winced as pain shot up his leg, twisted it? Nope. Broke it? Most likely. This was going to slow him down a lot.

He looked around, he couldn't see anything in the dark, if only he had the night vision goggles then-

The goggles! Tails! Cream! Where were they, were they alive?

"Cream!"

Sonic looked around, listening, was that the boy?

"Cream!"

It was, Sonic let out a sigh of relief. He got up and began walking, painfully, and slowly towards the sound.

* * *

><p>Tails found her, sitting in a drainage pipe that ran under the road. It was a meter wide, easy for her to fit in. She was holding her glove with an iron grip and rocking back and forth, shaking. It was dark in the pipe, but with the goggles Tails could see her clearly. He felt a huge wave of relief.<p>

"Cream, it's me, Miles."

She didn't answer and remained where she was.

"Lex come on out,"

She shook her head, she was terrified.

"Cream if you come out, I'll let you wear the goggles. Oh, look!" Tails said, "I also found your ball."

"Who cares." She whimpered.

"It's gotta be uncomfortable in there, and cold."

"No."

"Why,"

"There are animals out there, the Tyrannosaurus rex."

"He's gone."

"Were did he go."

"I don't know Cream, but he's not here now."

Cream remained in the pipe and Tails sighed he sat down on the edge of the wet pipe to rest.

"Is Daddy out there?" Cream asked.

"No,"

"Mommy?"

"No Cream." Tails sighed. "They're far from here."

"Are there any adults out there?" Creamed asked.

"No, none yet Cream," Tails said, "But I'm sure they'll find us soon."

Tails heard shifting and glanced back to see Cream crawl up. She was shivering, and had dried blood on her forehead, but otherwise seemed okay. She pressed against him and looked around in surprise. "Where's Dr. Grant?"

"Cream, I don't know."

"Well he was here."

"He was? When? Where did he go?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Cream said, she started to shout, "Hello! Dr. Grant! Dr. Grant!"

"Cream…."Tails began, he felt uneasy. Her shouting might bring back the rex. But almost immediately a shout replied. Tails looked towards the source of the sound. Close to the Land Cruiser that Tails had looked at a few minutes before hand. Dr. Grant was walking towards them, he had a big tear in his shirt, right where the shoulder was and he was limping, but he seemed otherwise alright.

"Thank God," he said, "I've been looking for the two of you."

* * *

><p>Jet froze slightly as he heard shouting.<p>

"Dr. Grant! Dr. Grant!"

He wiped mud out of his face and looked around. That sounded like the little girl. Chaos she survived? When Jet had run away, he stumbled down a hill and had come to a stop by some boulders. He hid there until he was sure it was safe. He couldn't have helped those kids if the rex attacked, but now it sounded as if one was okay.

He stepped out of the foliage. He looked up, he seemed to be at the bottom of a hill, the Land Cruisers must be at the top. By now the shouting had stopped. Why? Was the rex still there? He gulped, the forest was quiet, and it was spooky.

He turned away from the hill and began walking.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe he left you two," Sonic mumbled, as he ran his hands quickly over the girl, squeezing her arms and legs briefly. It was amazing; she didn't seem hurt other than the cut on her forehead. "I told you I was fine." Cream said.<p>

"I just had to check."

Tails wasn't as lucky as his sister however. His nose was swollen, probably broken. His right shoulder was bruised and broken. But other than that, it seemed both kids could walk. That was the important thing.

Sonic himself wasn't so bad. He had a claw abrasion on his chest where the tyrannosaur had kicked him, it hurt with every breath, but it didn't stop him from walking. It was his ankle that was the problem, but he was going to walk, broken or no.

He had walked around, a little lost after Tails had stopped calling. He had no luck finding Malcolm, and he wasn't eager to find Jet. Then Cream called out. It was a miracle they were all alive.

"I'm hungry," Cream said.

"I am too Cream," Sonic said, "We need to get back to civilization and warn the others about the boat. We're the only ones who know."

"Then we should walk down the road in the direction towards the hotel," Tails said, "We'll meet the others if they come for us."

Sonic had thought about that. But he remembered the dark shape that had crossed the road right before the attack. The only answer was that it had to have been the little tyrannosaur.

"I don't think we should Tails" Sonic said, "If either one of the tyrannosaurs is down the road, we'll be trapped by the fences on either side of us. We couldn't out run them, even the small one."

"Then we wait?"

"Yes," Sonic said, "Let's just wait here until someone comes for us."

"But I'm hungry, and cold," Cream said.

"I am too Cream," Sonic sighed, "And I hope it won't be long."

"I don't wanna stay here."

Sonic went to answer but stopped. There was coughing, down the road.

"Stay here," Sonic said sternly, he ran painfully ahead, to look down the hill.

"Stay here," Tails said, and he ran after him.

"Hey guys," Cream said running after them both, "Don't leave me here alone! Hey guys-"

Sonic clamped a hand over mouth, she struggled against him, but Sonic shook his head, and pointed down the hill, instructing for her to look.

At the bottom of the hill, Sonic could see Jet Regis, the hawk was tense, unmoving. The forest had become deathly silent. There was only a faint rustle of leaves, and a swish of the wind.

Cream started to speak, but Sonic pulled her over to a tree trunk ducking down among the heavy roots at the base. Tails climbed in after. Sonic leaned cover them in a protective crouch, keeping his hand over Cream's mouth he lifted a finger to his lips, ordering them to be quiet, and then, silently, slowly, peered around the tree.

The road was dark, Jet Regis was gone. It took Sonic a minute to locate him; the hawk was pressed against a trunk of a big tree. Jet was not moving at all.

The forest was still silent.

Sonic bit his lip; something was wrong, very, very wrong.

Cream tugged on his shirt, impatient. The tugging made the fabric rub against his sore chest, and he winced. The girl wanted to know what was happening. Sonic glanced at her, giving her a look. Suddenly, from somewhere very near, they heard a soft snorting sound. It wasn't much louder than the wind. But Cream heard it as well, because she stopped struggling and pressed against Sonic.

The sound moved towards them again, soft as a sigh.

Sonic looked at Regis, and the moving shadows in the moonlight. And then Sonic noticed, there was another-unmoving-shadow, with the outline of a curved neck and a large head.

Tails leaned forward cautiously, to see what was happening. Cream peeked up as well.

_CRACK! _Sonic and the kids jumped slightly. Onto the road, stepped a tyrannosaur. It was the juvenile, about eight feet high, it moved with the clumsiness of a young animal. It walked down road, sniffing the air with every step. It walked right by Jet Regis's hiding spot; it didn't seem to know he was there. Sonic watched as Regis relaxed and leaned past the tree to watch the juvenile continue on.

The tyrannosaur was now far down the road, out of sight. But the forest was still silent. Jet was a little more relaxed, releasing his grip from the tree. He remained in his hiding spot for another minute. Cream tugged on Sonic's arm, wanting him to pull his hand away. Sonic pulled his hand away from her mouth, but motioned for the kids to stay put, and to stay quiet. The life to the forest slowly returned. There was a croak of a frog, then a whole chorus of them. But Sonic and the kids remained where they were. Jet pulled away from the tree, shaking, he walked to the middle of the road, and looked the direction the tyrannosaur had gone.

The attack came from the left.

The juvenile roared-not as fearsomely as the adult but scary enough- it swung its head forward. Regis was knocked flat on the ground. He yelled and scrambled up, but the juvenile pounced. Regis began shouting at it waving his hands, as if he was trying to scare it away. The young dinosaur seemed confused that its prey was making such funny sounds. It leaned down a sniffed.

Regis pounded on its nose with his fists. "Get away! Get lost! Go on, beat it!" Jet was now shouting at the top of his lungs, and the dinosaur backed away, allowing Jet to get up. "Yeah, that's right, get lost! Get away!" as Regis began walking away. He only made it a few paces before the juvenile pounced on him again.

Sonic felt his body go cold.

_It's playing with him._

Jet cursed as he fell, but the juvenile did not peruse him as he stood back up and continued backing away. "You stupid-Back! Back! You heard me! Get back!" Regis was starting to sound like a pissed of lion tamer.

The juvenile roared but showed no sign of attacking. Regis now was close to thick foliage and trees, in a few more steps he would be in hiding. "Back! Get Back!" then at the last second, the juvenile pounced; it knocked Regis flat onto his back. "Cut that out!" Regis yelled, the juvenile did not back away, but instead ducked its head. Jet Regis began screaming, not words, just a high pitched scream.

The scream cut off abruptly, and the juvenile lifted its head, Sonic saw ragged flesh hanging from its mouth.

"Oh, no," Cream whimpered. Next to her, Tails looked away, he was suddenly feeling nauseous, the night vision goggles slipped of his forehead and landed on the ground with a thud.

The juvenile's head shot up, and it looked towards the top of the hill.

Tails snatched up the goggles and Sonic grabbed both of the children's hands and began to run. He ignored the crunching of bones, he ignored the pain his ankle, he just ran.

* * *

><p><strong>Ah Jet...<strong>

**You probably thought I forgot about thay bastard didn't you. Well I didn't. He came back alright.**

**And he didn't stay long either.**

**Way to go little rex!**

**Sorry for all you Jet lovers out there. I know you are probably saying he would never abandon the kids and he didn't have to die...Sorry but the i assigned him for that role, and i assigned the person to die. Hey at least he died quick right? Better than Ivo, that guy got spit on. And had his insides spilled out. Yuck! That's a rather nasty way to go if you ask me. At least the little rex ended it quickly. So there, I was a little nice. I don't blame him for running away. But think if he had stayed in the car he would have survived...Maybe...He didn't want to take that chance I guess...To bad, he might have made it.**

**Sorry again for all you fans of Jet out there.**

**Anywho, thanks for reading. See you soon. Please review, and there will defiently be more chapters.**


	13. What Remains

**Yeah this kinda sounds likea depressing chapter. But don't worry! It actaully isn't that bad.**

**But whew this one came out a bit longer than intended. Usually I try to stay around 3,000 to 4,000 words, but this went a little over board. Of course, I think the Dominoes chapter was like 5,000 or something like that. No wait. Was the the Chaos Theory chapter? I think it was that one instead. Sorry i get mixed up sometimes.**

**Anyway. I hope you enjoy. Please reviw!**

**Yours Truly- SilverSilence**

* * *

><p><strong>What Remains<strong>

Driving through the cool night air, the Jeep followed the compys that scurried alongside the road. Shelly pointed ahead, "Is that a light?"

"Yeah," Silver said, "It could be headlights from the look of it."

The radio buzzed and crackled. They recognized the voice of Omega say, "-you there?"

"Well it's about time," Silver said. He pressed the button, "Yes Omega, we're here."

There was crackling, then, "-eed-car-"

"What?" Mighty said.

"I'm pretty sure he said something about a car," During the dig up at Montana Shelly often operated the radio phone. And as the signal wasn't that good up at Snakewater, the transmissions came out garbled, and Shelly had plenty of practice deciphering cut up messages.

Silver shrugged and pressed the button, "Omega, could you repeat, we didn't quite get that.

Thunder boomed in the distance, the radio produced a wave of static, then "-where are-ou-"

"Were one mile north of the hypsys padlock, following the compys, it's quite interesting."

"No! -damn—get-here—ow!"

"Sounds like the guy has a problem." Mighty said.

"Omega always has a problem," Silver huffed, "Omega could you say that again please?" Even though the radio was garbled, there was no mistaking the tension in Omega's voice, it bugged Silver.

The radio crackled.

Static, then "—Muldoo- eed-your car-ow—"

"Something tells me, he wants your car," Shelly said. Mighty nodded, "Yeah, that's what it sounds like."

"Why? That doesn't make any sense," Silver said, "I don't see why he needs my car."

"—others-stuck-Muldoon wants-car-"

"Oh," Shelly said, "The other cars must be stuck, and Muldoon wants to pick them up."

Silver shook his head, "No, no, Knuckles has his own car, why would he need ours." He pushed the radio button, "Omega? Tell Knuckles, to take the other car. It's in the garage."

The radio crackled some more, "Crazy bastards—not listen—car—"

"Omega, it's in the garage, the other car is in the garage."

Static, "—erdy has-ther-one"

Silver growled, "This is so not getting us anywhere." He pressed the radio, "Alright Omega, we're coming back, give us a few minutes." He turned off the radio and whipped the car around.

"I wish I knew what the problem was," Mighty frowned.

"You and me both," Shelly replied.

It was about fifteen more minutes before they were greeted by the bright lights of the Safari Lodge. As Silver slowed to a stop in front of the visitor center, they saw Muldoon coming towards them. He was shouting and waving his arms.

* * *

><p>"Blast it Omega! You dimwit! Damn it! I want this park back on track! Get my grandkids here now!" Big was standing in the control room, stomping his feet and throwing a tantrum as big as a five year old. Charmy and Amy stood in the corner, looking rather shocked.<p>

"Well, Hammond!" Omega growled, "If you get off of my back, I'll be able to focus better. Also, Muldoon is on his way to the Cruisers right now, they'll be back in a few minutes." Omega turned back to his screen, blast management. They were all the same, bossy. Omega couldn't help but be nervous though, it was quite obvious now, that Ivo Nedry would not be coming back. It meant that Omega was just going to have to fix the system himself.

"Why don't you go to the cafeteria," Amy suggested, "Get a cup of coffee? Omega will call you with more news. Tell you what, I'll go with you and we can have coffee together?"

Big ignored her, "I don't want a Malcolm Effect here Omega,"

"And you won't" Omega replied, "Now just go get your cup of coffee with Amy. Will you let me get to work now?"

"I hate you," Big said.

"I'll call you sir, when Muldoon contacts me." Omega said coolly.

As Amy and Big left, he pushed buttons on his console; all the familiar control screens began to change. _Jurassic Park Main Modules….._

Omega was no longer operating the computer; he was in the computer, behind the scenes to look at the code, line-by-line. These codes told the system how to work. Of course, Omega knew all too well that the Jurassic Park program contained over a half a million lines of codes, most were not documented.

Charmy came forward, "What are you doing Omega?"

"Checking the codes."

"By inspection! That'll take you forever."

"Tell me about it," Omega sighed.

* * *

><p>Silver gripped the steering wheel as he took to a curve at extreme speed. Knuckles sat next to him, looking dead ahead, unaffected by Silver's driving. Mighty sat in the back, his fists clenched. They were on the cliff road, high above the river, hidden far below in the darkness. Silver picked up speed, his face was tense.<p>

He was shocked to learn that the system was having problems. Not small ones. A big one. He knew that the cars were stuck, that didn't bother him much. The fact that all the fences were down didn't bother him much. The fact that the cars were stuck, not far from the tyrannosaur padlock, with the fences down, did.

"How much farther?" Mighty asked.

"Two to three miles," Knuckles said.

Shelly was back at the visitor center. Silver said he would drive there, knowing all too well Knuckles was a crazier driver than him. Even though Silver knew the others would have been fine with Knuckles driving, part of him wanted to know that the others in the Cruisers were okay. Mighty offered to accompany the too, even though it might make the Jeep a bit more crowded when they picked up the others. The company was nice.

The car swerved. "It's been an hour," Knuckles said. "And we have had no word from the Land Cruisers."

"But they have radios." Silver said.

"We tried, but we couldn't raise them." Knuckled said.

"That's scary, because I tried, and I couldn't get them either." Silver said.

Mighty frowned, "You know, if I was stuck in the rain for over an hour in a car, I'd defiantly use the radios to try and call somebody."

"Yeah, so would I" Knuckles said.

"You think something happened to them?" Mighty asked.

"Chances are, they are fine," Silver said, but he wasn't so sure.

"I'll feel better when I see them," Knuckles said, "We should see than any minute now."

The car went around a corner, and ran up a hill. Mighty looked at the base of the hill, he saw something bright green, lying among the ferns. "Wait, stop!" Mighty said. Silver hit the brake, and the car screeched to a stop. Mighty jumped out of the car and ran forward, silhouetted in the headlights. It looked like a piece of clothing, but there was-

Mighty stopped.

Knuckles leaned out of the car, "What is it?"

Mighty didn't answer, even from six feet away, he could see it clearly. He walked forward more slowly.

Knuckles ran up, "Well?"

"It's…..It's a leg."

There was no mistaking it, the green leg, stained with blood, and the red shoes with the white sock. It was the same kind Jet Regis had been wearing.

Knuckles leaned down, lifting the leg out of the foliage. "Oh Crap," the blood on the stump, right where the knee had gushed blood over his hand, "Oh crap." Mighty paled and leaned over, he squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to be sick.

"Gennaro," Knuckles said sharply.

"What?"

"Move your blocking my light."

Gennaro took a deep breath and moved. He opened his eyes and looked at Knuckles. The echidna was staring at the stump, inspecting it. "Torn at the joint line." Knuckles said, "Didn't bite it, just twisted a ripped it. Just ripped the leg right off." Knuckles stood and tipped it upside down, letting the remaining blood flow out. Mighty felt sick again.

"No doubt," Knuckles sighed, "The rex got him." Knuckles glanced at the hill, "Can you go on Gennaro?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine."

Knuckles walked back to the Jeep. Silver looked at the leg and paled, "Oh God, is that-"

"Regis, yeah." Knuckles sighed, "I guess be better not leave it here. Gennaro could you look in the back, find a newspaper, or a tarp of something, so it doesn't make a mess?"

Mighty opened the back door, and dug in the space behind the rear seat, "Here, there are two tarps." He pulled one out and handed it to Knuckles. Knuckles wrapped it up and handed the now shapeless bundle to Mighty. "Just put it in the back, try and wedge it, you know….So it doesn't roll around." Mighty nodded and placed it in the back.

Knuckles climbed into the car, and once again Silver hit the gas. The Jeep went up the hill, and the headlights pointed to the sky, not until the road flattened out again did Mighty see the road clearly.

"Oh God," Silver said.

"Shit," Knuckles said.

Mighty saw a single Land Cruiser, it was lying on its side, in the center of the road. He couldn't see the second Land Cruiser. "Where's the other car?"

Silver pointed left suddenly, and Knuckles followed his finger, "There it is." The car was twenty feet away, crumpled at the foot of a tree.

"What in the world is it doing over there?"

"The T-rex threw it."

"Threw it!" Gennaro gasped.

Knuckles had a grim look as Silver stopped the car, "Let's get this over with." The three got out of the car, Silver ran towards the first, and Mighty and Knuckles went to the second. As they got closer, Mighty slowed, he could now clearly see how battered the car was. He stepped back and let Knuckles go first.

"I wouldn't worry," Knuckles said, "We probably won't find anyone.

"No?"

"No." he said. Knuckles knew from experience, that when animals attacked they hardly left a trace. They could snap a child's neck with a shake, there was hardly any blood. Usually the only evidence you found was a button or a sliver of clothing. But most of the time, nothing.

Predators preferred children, and they left nothing behind. So Knuckles found it highly unlikely that they would ever find the remains of the children.

But as he looked inside the car, he had a surprise.

"Well, what do you know." He said.

"Empty?" Mighty said, obviously tense.

"Not quite." Knuckles said, he reached inside and pulled out a small black object. "It's a watch," Knuckles held up his flashlight to it. It was a simple digital model, with a rubber strap. The face was shattered, Knuckles vaguely remember the boy was wearing it, but he wasn't sure. It was the kind of watch a kid would be wearing.

"Is that a watch?" Mighty asked.

"Yes, didn't I tell you? There also is a radio, but it's broken."

"Is that important?"

"Yes, and there is something else too…." Knuckles peered into the car again. There was a sour smell producing from the inside, he moved the flashlight around until he saw it, vomit. It was still fresh. "I think one of the kids might still be alive." He said.

"Oh, how so?" Mighty asked.

"The watch," Knuckles said, holding up the said object, "The watch proves it." He handed it to Mighty who peered at it. He turned it over.

"The crystal face is cracked." He said.

"Yep," Knuckles said, "And the band is uninjured."

"Which means…"

"The kid took it off."

"But that could have happened anytime," Mighty said, "Anytime before the attack."

"No," Knuckles said, "Those crystal faces are tough, they can take a pretty good beating, the watch face cracked during the attack."

"So the kid took it off." Mighty shrugged

Knuckles gave him a look, "Think about it. Just think. If you were being attacked by a tyrannosaur would you stop to take your watch off?"

"Maybe it got torn off," Mighty suggested.

"It's almost impossible to tear a watch off someone's hand, unless you tear the hand off too. No this band is intact." Knuckles said, "The kid took it off. He looked at his watch, saw it was broken and took it off. He obviously had time to do that."

"When?"

"Well, defiantly after the attack." Knuckles said, "The kid must have been in this car. It took a beating, got thrown over here. The radio was broken, so was his watch, so he left them, he knew they were useless to him, he's a bright kid."

Mighty crossed his arms, "If he's so bright, then why didn't he stay here, why didn't he wait for someone to come and find him?"

"I thought about that," Knuckles replied, "But perhaps he couldn't stay here. Perhaps the tyrannosaur came back, or some other animal. Anyway, whatever it was, it made him leave."

"Then where did he leave to?"

"That, I'm not sure." Knuckles sighed, "But let's see if we can determine where." He began walking back to main road.

Mighty Gennaro watched silently as Muldoon peered at the ground, his face inches from the mud. Knuckles might have believed that one of the kids was alive, but Mighty was not sure. After the shock of finding Regis's leg…Mighty now had a grim determination to shut down this park, he wanted it gone, destroyed, no matter what Knuckles said.

"Look at these prints." Knuckles said suddenly, breaking him from his thoughts.

"What prints," Mighty asked as he walked over. He leaned over but only saw mud and shiny puddles reflecting off his flashlight.

"They came up from the road," Knuckles said, "They were made by and adult. The adult came here, and was joined by two more sets of footprints. Small and medium, they seemed to be standing for a bit, talking. See how the prints over lap? But then, they started to run," Knuckles stood and shown his flashlight of the prints, "Right into the park."

"You know, anyone can see what they want in the mud." Mighty said.

Knuckles growled, "Say what you like, I'm sure one of the kids survived, maybe both. Heck even one of the adults may have survived other than Regis. We have to search the park."

"Wait, tonight?"

Knuckles ignored him. He had walked off, toward a drain pipe. He crouched again, "What was the little girl wearing?"

"Chaos," Mighty huffed, "How should I know?"

Moving slowly Knuckles scanned the ground, but stopped, he straightened, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Shh…."

They both listened, it sounded like shouting. They climbed quietly over the road and saw a flashlight bobbing, and waving in the air. It was Silver; he was waving his arms at them.

"Silver what is it?" Knuckles called out.

"Get over here," Silver shouted, "I've found him, I've found Malcolm!"

* * *

><p>Shadow was on his back, he skin slightly pale, and mouth partially open. His breathing came in wheezing desperate gasps. Knuckles handed his flashlight to Mighty and kneeled down next to Silver.<p>

"I haven't found the injury yet," Silver said, "His chest, head and arms are okay."

Mighty lowered the flashlight to Shadows legs, "I think something is wrong with his leg. He put a tourniquet on it."

Silver and Knuckles looked down. Sure enough, Shadow's belt was wrapped tightly around his left thigh. The right ankle was twisted at an awkward angle away from the leg. The jeans he was wearing were soaked with blood. Knuckles touched Shadow's ankle gently and Shadow let out a low moan.

Silver frowned; they need to decide what to do. Malcolm might have other injuries. His back might be broken; it might kill him if they tried to move him. But if he was left here, he would die of shock. The only reason he hadn't died yet from blood loses, is he was right enough in the mind to put pressure on his leg. He probably might not make it. But they needed to try.

"Let's get him to Jeep." He said grimly.

Knuckles had stood and looked down at him, rather uncertain. "Are you sure," he must have been thinking the same thing Silver had.

"I'm sure," Silver said, "It would be inhuman to leave him here. We have pain killers somewhere back at the lodge I'm sure. We might be able to help him there."

Knuckles nodded, and together the three of them hoisted Shadow up, rather awkwardly but they were moving. Shadow let out a gasp of pain, then he moan, "Cream," He said, "The girl….Cream…..went…."

"Who's Cream?" Knuckles asked.

"The little girl," Mighty said.

The carried him to the Jeep, and as gently as they could set him in the back. Silver leaned over and tightened the belt on Shadow's leg. "Mighty get in the back, and make sure that belt stay's tight. Silver lifted up the jean cuff and looked grimly down at the ragged flesh with small bits of bone sticking out.

"We have to go back," Silver said.

"The kids might be alive," Mighty said, "And were going to leave them?"

Silver looked over at Knuckles who looked at Mighty, "I'm a hundred percent sure now that those prints were the kids, and the adult set had be to Grant, since Malcolm is here and Regis is….." He paused, "The kids are probably with Grant. And if they are in the park, that's twenty square miles of land. We'll have a better chance of finding them if we use the motion sensors and try to find them from the control room."

"But if we don't head back now," Silver said, "Malcolm will die."

"Then we go back," Mighty said,.

"Yes."

As Silver started the car and they began to drive back, "Who's going to tell Hammond that his grandkids are missing?" Gennaro asked. "Are one of you going to do it."

Silver looked at Knuckles and Knuckles looked back at Mighty, "No." He said, "You are."

* * *

><p>Mighty Gennaro shifted uncomfortably as he stared at Hammond, sitting in the abandoned cafeteria. The old cat was sitting calmly eating some ice cream. "So Muldoon believes the kids are somewhere in the park?"<p>

"He is pretty sure, yes."

"Then I'm 'pretty sure' we'll find them."

"I hope so Big," Mighty said quietly. He watched Big take another bite of ice cream and he suddenly felt nervous.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll find them. After all I keep telling people over and over, that this park was built for children."

"Sir," Mighty said, "They are missing."

"_Missing?" _Big snapped, "I know that they are missing. I'm not senile." He let out a sigh and changed tone, "Look Mighty," Big said, "We've had a little breakdown. Let's not get ourselves carried away. We had a little breakdown from the storm, and the result was a sad regrettable accident. But, Omega will get the computers back online, Knuckles will pick up the kids, and I have no doubt that by the time I finish my ice cream they will be back. Let's just wait to see how it turns out shall we?"

Mighty hesitated, "If you say so sir."

* * *

><p>"Tell me why you're checking the whole system again?" Charmy said, looking at the screen.<p>

"Because the jerk Ivo; did something to the code. That is why I am checking it." Omega said.

"Well," Charmy said, "Have you considered your other options?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Aren't the safety systems still on?" Keychecks? All that stuff." Charmy said.

"Damn," Omega said, he snapped his fingers and grinned, "They must be. The safety systems can't be shut off except at the main panel."

"Well," Charmy said, "Is Keychecks is active; you can trace what Ivo did."

"I sure can," Omega said. He started to press buttons. Why didn't he think of that before? It was so obvious, Jurassic Park had several safety systems one of them the Keychecks program. It told the computer everything that a person with access to the system had typed while in there.

In a few seconds all the things Ivo Nedry had typed appeared on as a list on the screen. It started out as random numbers, then Ivo's name, system, codes, and what looked like his password…

"That's it?" Omega said, " The fool was just screwing around here for hours?"

"He was probably just killing time," Charmy said pulling a chair up, "Then he decide to get to work."

The numbers on the list represented the areas that Ivo had explored. So basically he was looking around, which was unusual for someone who helped design the program.

"Maybe he was double checking to make sure there had been no changes," Charmy suggested.

"Maybe." Omega pressed the next button and the followed the path of the next word.

_System _was Ivo's request to leave the ordinary interface and access the code itself. The computer had asked for his name, _Nedry._

That name was allowed to access the code, so the computer allowed him into the system. Ivo had asked to _go to command level,_ the computer's highest level of command. This level requited extra security Nedry for his name, access code, and password.

_Nedry_

_040/#xy/67*_

_mr goodbytes_

Those entries got Ivo into the command level. From there he wanted _security. _And since he was allowed to do so, the computer let him in. Once on the security level Ivo tried three codes.

_keycheck off_

_safety off_

_sl off_

"He's trying to turn off the safety systems," Wu said, "He doesn't want anyone to know what he's about to do."

"Yeah, but he didn't know that we changed the system so that you can only shut off security through the min panel."

After three failed commands, the computer automatically started to worry about Ivo. But since he had gotten proper authorization, the computer just thought that Ivo was a little lost. So the computer asked him again where he wanted to be, and Ivo said:

_Security. _And he was allowed to remain in security.

"I think we found it," Omega said, he pointed at the last command on the list, "This is what must have done it."

_whte_rbt. obj_

"What the heck is that?" Omega said, "White rabbit? Is this some kind of joke?"

Charmy pointed at the screen. "It's labeled as a object.

"Let's see what's in the code then," Omega said, "Maybe we can figure out what it does." He went to the program utilities and typed:

_FIND WHTE_RBT .OBJ_

The computer flashed back in response.

_OBJECT NOT FOUND IN LIBRARIES_

"It doesn't exist," Omega said.

"Then search the code listing."

_FIND/LISTINGS: WHTE_ RBT. OBJ_

The screen scrolled at a rapid pace, the lines of codes blurring by. This continued for almost five minutes, and then it stopped suddenly.

"There it is," Charmy said.

Omega stared at the code and growled. "That son of a-" He stopped, "It wasn't and object at all. The fat bastard put in a trap door. It was designed to look like a object, but it actually is a command that links to the security and perimeter systems and then turns them off. It gives him complete access to every place in the park.

"Then there must be a way to turn them back on," Charmy said.

"Yeah, there has to," Omega said, "All we have to do is figure out the command. I'll run a trace on the link." He said, "We'll see where that gets us."

Charmy got up from his chair, "Meanwhile," he said, "That somebody, went to the freezer about an hour ago. I think I'm going to go count my embryos."

* * *

><p>Shelly Sattler was in her room, about to change out of wet clothes, when there was a knock.<p>

"Sonic?" she said, but as she opened the door, she couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, for it was Muldoon, "Oh, Knuckles what do you need?"

Knuckles was standing there, with a plastic wrapped package under his arm. He was soaking wet and there were streaks of dirt all over him.

"I'm really sorry to be bothering you, but we need your help." Knuckles said quickly, "The Land Cruisers were attack an hour ago. We brought Malcolm back, but he is in shock. He has a serious injury to his leg. He still is unconscious right now, but he is in his bedroom. Silver is already there helping him.

"Omi-gosh!" Shelly gasped, "Is he going to be okay? Wait, did you say Silver? What about the others, are they here?"

"We haven't found the others yet Dr. Sattler," Knuckles said. He was speaking very slow now.

"Oh, my, God."

"But we think that Dr. Grant and the children are still alive. We think they went into the park Dr. Sattler."

"Into the park?"

"Yes, we think so. Meanwhile, could you help Malcolm. Like I said, Silver is already there."

"But shouldn't you call a doctor-" she said.

"No," Knuckles said, "Phone lines are down. We can't call out." He adjusted the package in his arm.

Shelly looked down at it and suddenly felt cold, "What is that?"

"Nothing, just go to Malcolm's room and help Harding, please, it would mean a lot."

And the Knuckles was gone.

She closed the door slowly and sat down her bed, shocked. Shelly wasn't the type to panic easily. She had known Sonic to get out of dangerous situations. One time he had been lost in the badlands for six days when a cliff gave way beneath him and him and his truck both had fallen a hundred feet into a ravine. Sonic's right leg was broken; he had no drink, nor food. But he walked back on a broken leg.

But then there were the kids…

No, she thought. Standing up she went to get a pair of dry clothes. The kids were probably with Sonic. And if Sonic was out in the park, well…..What better person to get them safely through Jurassic Park than a dinosaur expert.

* * *

><p><strong>There you go. Happy? I didn't kill Shadow, just got him pretty messed up that's all. *Evil Grin* I'm just kidding, I really didn't want to break his bones, honestly I didn't. But something bad had to happen to somebody, and it ended up being him Sorry. At least I didn't make the rex eat him. He'll be fine I promise. The kids and Grant could be in a little trouble though...<strong>

**Ah don't worry, after all. Sattler is right. **

**Who better than to guide them through the park than a dinosaur expert?**

**Please review, it means a lot to me. Thanks.**

**Yours Truly- SilverSilence**


	14. In The Park

**Okay this chapter hops around a bit. Not as much as other chapters but it still hops around. So bear with me. :)**

**Okay you know the routine. Please review. Either give your opinion, give advice, point out MAJOR errors, give ideas, ask questions, or just let me know you enjoy story and DEMAND I hurry up and post. XD**

**Anywo enjoy!**

**Yours Truly- SilverSilence**

* * *

><p><strong>In The Park<strong>

"I'm tired. Carry me Dr. Grant."

"But your too big to carry Cream. And his ankle is broken"

"But I'm really tired."

"It's okay Tails, I'll carry her, I don't mind."

Thump.

"Ugh, dang you're heavy."

Sonic winced at the increased weight on his ankle, but he kept moving. He looked up at the moon. It was about 9:00 p.m. The full moon was blurred by mists, and the trio's shadows spread across the field as they trudged on towards the woods. Sonic was lost in thought, trying to figure out where he was, after they had run away from the juvenile which thank the Lord, it didn't follow them, they had crossed the fence which the tyrannosaur had knocked down, so that meant they were somewhere in the tyrannosaur padlock. The last place Sonic wanted to be. In his mind he kept seeing the blue lines on the computer screen that symbolized the tyrannosaur's home range, He and the kids were in that area now.

But Sonic also knew that the tyrannosaur was isolated from the other animals, which meant they would know when they had left the tyrannosaur padlock when they crossed a barrier. They would run into a fence, or moat, maybe both. But he had seen no barriers so far.

The girl had nuzzled her head in the crook of his neck and was gently tugging on one of her long ears. In minutes she was snoring. Tails sleepily trudged alongside Sonic.

"How are you holding Tails?"

"I'm okay I think," Tails said, "But I think we are in tyrannosaur area."

"I'm pretty sure we are," Sonic said. "But I hope we get out soon."

"Are we going into the woods?" Tails said as they got closer to the said area. From where they were the woods looked dark and forbidding.

"Yes Tails," Sonic said, "I think we can navigate our way out of here by the numbers on the motion sensors."

The motion sensors were green boxes, three feet from the ground. Some stood on their own, others were attached to trees. They were all off, so the power must be still out. But all the sensors were marked; the one they just passed said T/S/04. As they entered the woods the next one said T/S/03, and then T/S/02, the numbers got smaller until the next one said T/N/01. Sonic figured that the motion sensors were placed like a compass, they started from the south, so the closer they go to the middle the smaller the numbers became, and then they got bigger as they headed north. Sonic hoped that meant the edge of the padlock was close; he was getting tired from carrying the girl.

"At least were going the right way," Tails said, as if to read his thoughts.

"At least…."

Tails stumbled on some vines and Sonic stopped waiting for him to get back up. Then the two set off again. "My parents are getting a divorce," Tails said suddenly.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sonic said, he was a little uncomfortable but if the child needed someone to talk to, he would listen.

"My dad moved out last month. He has his own place in Mill Valley."

"Uh-huh,"

"He never carries my sister anymore, he never even picks here up. I think Cream must really like you if she wants you to carry her." Tails said.

Sonic shifted the girl to a bit more comfortable position, and "And he says you have dinosaurs on the brain?" he said.

Tails sighed, "Yeah."

"Do you miss him?" Sonic asked.

"Not really," Tails said, "Sometimes. She misses him more though."

"Your mother?"

"No, Cream. Mom has a boyfriend that she met from work." Tails said.

The walked in silence for awhile, passing T/N/06, then T/N/07. "Have you met your mom's boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"He's okay," Tails said, "He's younger than my dad, but he has like seriously no fur."

"What is he a mole?"

Tails laughed, "He could be."

"Does he treat you good?"

"He's okay," Tails said, "I think he just wants to get on my good side. Sometimes he and my mom argue, and I just sit in my room and play on the computer, but I can still hear them."

"Uh-huh….."Sonic said.

"Are you divorced?"

"No," Sonic said, "I've never married. Some of my students say I move too fast for the girls to keep up."

"Oh," Tails paused. "And now you're with Dr. Sattler?"

Sonic grinned in the dark, "No. She is my student"

"You mean she is still in _school!"_

"Graduate school yes," Sonic said, he looked at the motion sensor box as they walked past it T/N/13 they were getting farther. Thunder boomed in the distance, the storm had long since passed, and there was nothing but the sound of a occasional tree frog.

"You have any kids?" Tails asked.

"No I'm not married, never had any, and I never did adoption."

"Are you going to marry Dr. Sattler?"

Sonic looked away, and "She's marrying a nice doctor in Chicago sometime next year." He said.

"Oh," Tails paused, "Well then who are you going to marry?"

"I don't think I ever will Tails."

"Well, me neither."

They walked a little longer, "Dr. Grant?"

"Hmm?"

"I never asked, what happened to Professor Malcolm?" Tails asked.

Sonic felt a sudden pang, memories flashed through his mind like a slideshow. They were in the car- the rex was coming- Malcolm had asked what to do- Sonic didn't know- Shadow was out of the car- the rex had lunged- Malcolm was-

He blinked and shook his head, burying the memories away, "I don't know what happened to him Tails, I wish I knew."

"Oh….."

They walked on, then. "Are we going to walk all night Dr. Grant?"

"I don't think I could," Sonic said. "We'll have to stop, at least for a few hours." He looked at his watch, "We've got a least fifteen hours before the ship reaches the mainland."

"Where are we going to stop?" Tails said quickly.

"Ummm," Sonic was thinking about that. At first he thought a tree, but then it would have to be a really high tree to stay out of reach from the rex. But Cream could fall off, and the hard branches would be uncomfortable, they wouldn't get any sleep, at least, he wouldn't.

They needed someplace safe. He sorta remembered there were buildings scatter all over the park, a few in each padlock He didn't know what they were made for, but he knew they were there.

Of course, finding a barrier and crossing it was totally different from finding a building. Finding a building needed a different strategy and the best strategy was-

"Tails, hold your sister for me, I'm going to climb a tree and get a look around."

High up the tree Sonic had a very good view of the forest. It had taken him awhile to climb the tree, he had almost fallen a few times, and his ankle didn't help much, but he had made it. Surprisingly not far from where he was, there was the electric fence, and a concrete moat. Beyond that a grassy plain….

He heard a dinosaur bellow, but it sounded far away, he relaxed and continued searching. There! With Tails's night vision goggles he could see a dark strip of service road leading to a rectangular building. The roof was barely above ground level, but it was there. And thank heaven; it wasn't far, maybe less than a quarter a mile away.

As he came back down he heard Cream whimpering, "What's wrong Cream?"

"I heard an animal."

"It won't bother us. Are you awake now? Cause I need you to walk, come on."

He led them to the fence; it was twelve feet high, with a spiral barbed wire at the top. It seemed extremely high up in the dark. Cream was looking at it, unsure.

"Can you climb it?" Sonic asked her.

"Sure," she said, she handed him her mitt and ball, "Easy. But I bet Timmy can't climb it." She started to climb.

Tails growled at her in fury, "You shut up; I have had enough of climbing for one day, thank you!" He crossed his arms, "Besides I have my own method for getting over things."

"Tails is afraid of heights." Cream sang as she climbed higher.

"I am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Then come and get me." She taunted.

Sonic sighed and turned to face Tails. The yellow fox was pale in the dark. The boy wasn't moving. "Tails's are you okay? Do I need to carry you? Or do you want to try you 'other method'"

"Well," Tails said, "I can't do it very well; I can't stay up long, so I'll have to meet you on the other side."

"What do you do?"

Tails took the baseball glove and ball from Sonic, "I'll show you." And with that, Sonic watched in shock as the two tails started to spin and slowly Tails's lifted into the air, past Cream and over the fence to the other side.

"Oh my word," Sonic said as he began to climb.

* * *

><p>"It's freezing!" Cream gasped as she clung onto Sonic, who shivered as he slipped waist deep into the smelly water. Sonic shuddered, water, he so hated this right now. They had crossed the fence without trouble, Cream had torn her shirt on the barbwire, but they made it.<p>

As they looked for a way out of the moat, Sonic looked at Tails, "How did you do that?"

"Did what?"Tails asked as he ran his hand over the smooth concrete, it was slippery, they wouldn't be able to climb it.

"You flew, Tails" Sonic said, "You flew over the fence."

"Oh that," Tails shrugged, "I learned I could do it when I was eight, I haven't told Mom, but I'm not very strong, so I can only stay in the air for a few seconds."

"That's amazing Tails, it really is." Sonic said, he tugged on the vine that was growing through the crack in the concrete. "You can do some pretty amazing things once you build your strength." He pulled harder on the vine, it held his weight, and "Alright kids climb up."

It took only a few minutes for them to cross the field over to the maintenance building, the past to motion sensors along the way, and Sonic notice with uneasiness that they were still off.

In the distance there was a tyrannosaur roar.

"Is he around here?" Cream asked.

"No," Sonic sighed, "We're in a different part of the park them him." They walked down the grassy hill and up to the building. In the dark, it looked like and unwelcoming war bunker.

Sonic walked up to the entrance, it was big enough for a truck, but blocked by thick bars of steel. Inside Sonic could see that the building was just an open shed, with piles of hay inside. He looked down, the gate was closed with a large lock, as he inspected it, Cream slipped through the bars, "Come on you guys."

Tails followed after, "You can make it Dr. Grant."

He was right; it was a little tight, but Sonic was able to ease his body through the bars and into the shed. No sooner he was inside, he felt dead exhausted.

"I wonder if there is anything to eat," Cream said.

"Not unless you like hay," Sonic said, he broke open and two bales and spread they hay out onto the concrete, the hay was warm and it would cushion them from the hard concrete floor. They all crawled onto the hay, exhaustion taking over them. Cream nestled up beside him, closing her eyes. Tails curled up on the other side of Cream, gently wrapping his arm around her.

There wasn't a sound. They were immediately asleep. Sonic lifted his arm up to look at his watch, but it was too dark to see. He sighed and let his arm fall back down. What a nightmare today had been, but there was still time to fix things….In a few….hours…..They needed to start…again…..Had to warn….control about the boat….raptors…..Needed to stop….the…raptors…

There was the sound of sauropods in the distance. But Sonic didn't hear. He could feel the warmth of the children pressing against his body…..

Sonic closed his eyes, and slept.

* * *

><p>Muldoon and Gennaro walked into the control room as Omega let out a cheer, "Got you now you little bastard."<p>

"What is it?" Mighty asked.

Omega pointed at his screen. It was covered in codes, links, numbers, and objects. "That's it," Omega said, obviously pleased with himself.

"That's what?" Mighty asked.

"I finally found the command that restores the original code. The command is called '' restores the linked parameters, namely the fence and the power. But there is a catch," Omega said, "It then however, erases the code lines that refer to it. It destroys all the evidence that proved it existed. Pretty smooth move."

"Okay," Knuckles said.

"Well let's see if it works," Omega said.

The screen buzzed, and then changed. A new list appeared.

"Look!" Knuckles said, he pointed out the control room windows, outside the big quartz lights were turning all over the park. They all went to the windows to watch.

"Alright," Omega smirked.

"Does this mean the fences are back on?" Mighty asked.

"You bet it does," Omega grinned, "It'll take a minute for the generator to heat up fifty miles worth of fence, but it's working."

"And the motion sensors?"

"Them too," Omega said, he turned to the vertical glass screen in the middle of the room. Bright red lines were running through the screen, tracing the electric fence line, symbolizing that the fences were powering up. "Half past nine," Omega grinned, "And we've got this whole dang system up and running."

* * *

><p>Sonic groaned and a red light fill invaded his darkness; he opened his eyes and blinked as bright blue light was streaming through the bars and into the building. Quartz light: The power was back on! Sleepily he looked down at his watch, it was only nine thirty, he had only been sleeping a few minutes. He decided it wouldn't hurt to sleep a few more, after that, he would go back to the field and stand in front of the motion sensors. The control room would spot them, send down a car to pick them up, Omega would call the ship, and they would spend the rest of their night in their own beds at the lodge.<p>

He would do that right away….In just a couple minutes that is. He yawned and closed his eyes again.

* * *

><p>"Only three short outs," Omega said, "Could have been worse."<p>

"Where are the short outs?" Mighty asked.

"Well, one by the tyrannosaur padlock….and we know why….." Omega peered at the glass, "One by the sauropod padlock, probably a tree, and another one by the jungle river."

"How about the motion sensors,"

"We've changed the code, so if they pick up any 'extras' we'll know it's Grant and the kids, but I don't see any extras yet," Omega sighed, "Haven't found the big rex either, he's probably sleeping, for all we know the humans could be sleeping too."

"Well, maintenance better get to work," Knuckles said, "Five animals are not where their supposed to be. I'll take the maintenance crews out now."

"Gennaro," Omega said, "You may want to see how Malcolm is doing, and while you're there, tell Harding that Muldoon will need him in an hour to help with maintenance. I'll go tell Hammond that we are finally cleaning things up."

* * *

><p>As Mighty passed through the iron gates and went to the front door of the Safari Lodge, he saw Shelly coming down the hallway, she was carrying towels and a pan of steaming water. She looked up at him, "Oh hello Gennaro,"<p>

"Please just call me Mighty," he said, "Can I help carry anything?"

"Oh, sure, thank you," Shelly smiled and she handed him the towels, "There's a kitchen at the other end, we're using that to boil water for the dressings. It seems the power is back on now,"

"It is," Mighty said, "How is he?"

"He could be worse," Shelly said, "But he's doing surprisingly well."

As they walked to the sound of laughter, he peered inside to see both Shadow Malcolm and Silver Harding laughing. Shelly walked right in, but Mighty was more hesitant.

Silver stood up and took the towels from Mighty, "He's pretty high on morphine right now. I couldn't resist putting in a joke or too. But come in, you don't have to worry about a Malcolm Effect here."

"I'm telling you not high enough," Shadow said, "Did they find the others yet?"

"No not yet," Mighty said, "But I'm glad to see that you're doing well,"

"Mmmm hmm, how else should I be doing," Shadow said, "I'm drugged up with morphine, I have a compound fracture on my leg, it will probably take ages to heal, and it producing a rather um…how shall I put this? Pungent smell I suppose? But I always say, if you can't keep a sense of humor…..

"Wow you really _are _high on morphine aren't you?" Mighty smiled, "Do you remember what happened to you?"

Shadow went serious, "Oh, of course I remember. Do you think the fact that be bitten by a _Tyrannosaurus rex _and it would escape your mind, yeah I don't think so. I'll tell you, I will remember this for the rest of my life. I my case however, that might not be long. But still-yes I do remember what happened."

Shadow went on to explain the events that happened, "It was my own bloody fault I guess, Grant had told the kids to stay in the car, I don't see why we shouldn't have done the same. Of course he was too close, but I panicked anyway. In any case, the bloody animal picked me up in his jaws."

"How?" Mighty asked.

"Torso," Shadow said, lifting up his shirt, "It's bruised, you can't see the bruises, but you can still see some of the puncture marks." A broad semicircle of punctures ran from his shoulder to navel. "Lifted me up in his jaws, shook me bloody hard, and then he threw me. And I was fine-terrified of course-but perfectly fine-right up till the moment he threw my Chaos knows how many feet. I broke my leg in the fall, but the bite wasn't that bad," he sighed "Considering….."

Silver looked over, "Most of the big carnivores don't have strong jaw muscles; it's all in the neck, the just hold on and shake, twisting and tearing. But for the smaller 'animals' Malcolm in this case, they just pick up, shake, then throw."

"That sounds about right," Shadow said, "I doubt I should have lived that, but the big guy just didn't have his heart into it. To me, he seemed rather clumsy."

Shelly crossed her arms, "You think he attacked halfheartedly?"

"It pains me to say it, yes," Shadow sighed, "But I don't honestly think I had his full attention, he had all of mine. But then, he weighs eight tons, I don't. Not like I'm complaining here though, I'm fine with him not eating me."

"Uh-huh," Mighty said, he turned to Silver, "They're going to repair the fences now, Omega says Muldoon will need your help herding the animals."

"Okay," Silver said,

"Just as long as Dr. Sattler stays here, and an ample of morphine." Shadow said, "That, and as so long as we don't have a Malcolm Effect here."

"Seriously, what is this 'Malcolm Effect' I keep hearing about?" Mighty asked.

Shadow smirked, "Modesty forbids me, from telling you the details of a phenomenon named after me." He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. In a moment, he had slipped off to sleep.

Shelly walked into the hallway with Mighty, "Don't be fooled," she sighed, "It's a great strain on him. When will the helicopter be here?"

"Helicopter?"

"Mighty, he needs surgery on that leg. Make sure they send a helicopter and get him off this island."

* * *

><p>Knuckles listened to the gurgle of the jungle river over the sound of the portable generator. He turned to the maintenance van and saw one of the workmen coming out with a big power saw.<p>

"No, no," he said, "Just ropes. We don't need to cut it." He turned back to the fence and looked at the small protocarpus tree that was leaning against the fence. It was one of many planted in the area the we used to conceal the fences.

It wasn't going to be a big job. All they had to do was pull the tree of the fence, remove the metal fittings, and mark it for the gardeners to fix in the morning. Twenty minute job, nothing big, but Knuckles knew that the dilophosaurs stayed near the river, but they could still spit their blinding venom through the fence at the workmen.

Ramón, one of the workmen walked over, he pointed east through the jungle. "Senor Muldoon," he said, "did you see the lights.

Muldoon squinted in the bright quartz lights as he looked east, other than the quartz lights, he could see nothing "What lights?"

"I saw it as we were coming out. It is very faint. You see it? It looks like the lights of a car, but it is not moving."

Knuckles squinted some more. It was probably just maintenance light. After all the power was back on, "We'll have to worry about it later," he said, "Right now we need to focus on fixing the fence."

* * *

><p><strong>There we go, it's been awhile, and you probably thought I had forgot about Sonic and the kids . Well I didn't and as you can see, they are good….for now…..Hope you enjoyed it. Please RR that would mean a lot. Thanks!<strong>

**Yours Truly- SilverSilence**


	15. Restoring The Park

**Repairing the Park**

In the harsh quartz lights, the hypsilophodont's green head hung down out of the sling, the tongue was dangling out, and its eyes were dull.

"Careful! Careful!" Big Hammond shouted as the crane began to lift the large animal.

Silver grunted chaos he wished that old dolt had stayed behind. He grunted again as he eased the head back onto the leather straps. He was trying to be careful not to cut off the circulation of the carotid artery. The crane hissed and lifted the animal into the air, lowering it onto a waiting flatbed truck.

The hypsy was a beautiful dinosaur, smaller than most at the park. Seven feet long, weighed about five hundred pounds. She was a dark green, with mottled brown spots, quiet a lovely animal.

Her breath was slow, but she was fine, Silver had given her the right amount of tranquilizer dosage, one bound and she had fallen over.

"Watch it easy!" Big was shouting at the workman.

"Mr. Hammond," Silver sighed, "Please," Ugh, next time Muldoon gets him, he thought.

"Well they should be careful."

"They are being careful," Silver said. He jumped up onto the big flatbed truck as the hypsy came down; he strapped her to the safety harness, and slipped on the cardiogram collar that monitored heartbeat. He picked up a large electric thermometer the size of a truck baster and slipped it in the rectum. It beeped: 96.2 degrees.

"How is she?" Big asked, he was fretting.

"Fine," Silver said through his teeth, "Only dropped a degree and a half.

"That's too much, too deep."

"What do you want? Her waking up and jumping off the truck!" Silver snapped.

Silver had been chief veterinary at the San Diego Zoo, he was the world's leading expert on avian care. He flew all over the world consulting zoos on how to tend with animals. He had no interest when a certain cat showed up and offered a job for him a private game park….Until he told him what was inside, then, it was impossible to pass up. The idea of writing a book on dieses and medicine for dinosaurs was compelling.

Silver never regretted his decision. He had developed a considerable expertise with these animals. And he didn't want to hear from Hammond now.

The hypsy snorted and shifted. She was still breath shallowly, but it was time to get moving. "All aboard," Silver shouted, "Let's get this girl back to her paddock."

A few minutes later….

The needle went deep into the neck, as Silver anesthetized the female dryosaur. Almost immediately she began to recover, snorting and kicking her powerful legs.

"Everybody get back," Silver said, moving away quickly, "Get back."

The dinosaur stood, shaky, looking rather like a drunk. She stared at the people standing back in the quartz lights and blinked.

"She's drooling," Big said.

"Temporary," Silver said, "It will stop."

The dinosaur wheezed and then moved slowly across the field away from the lights.

"She isn't hopping."

"She will, it'll take her about an hour to fully recover." Silver turned to the car, "Alright team, let's go deal with the stego."

* * *

><p>"Control. This is Muldoon. We're ready to begin repair."<p>

"Alright shutting down your section."

Knuckles glanced at his watch, somewhere in the distance he heard hooting, like and owl. But he knew that it was the dilophosaurs He walked up to Ramón, "Let's get this finished, I want to get to those last two sections of fence."

An hour had gone by, Gennaro stared at the glass screen before him as the spots and numbers flickered and changed, "What's happening now."

Omega glanced up, "I'm trying to get the phones back. So we can call about Malcolm." He went back to his console.

"No I mean out there."

Omega glanced back up again, "Well, it looks like they almost have all the animals done with, and two of the sections. See, it's just as I told you the park is back in hand. No Malcolm effect here. In fact, it's just that third section of fence….."

"Omega," it was Muldoon.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen this bloody fence?"

"Give me a minute and I'll see."

One of the monitors lit up, it was a image from up high, looking across the plain at a low concrete building, "That's one of our maintenance storage buildings in the sauropod padlock, we have one in every building." Omega explained. The screen blurred, indicating that the camera was moving, it stopped in view of the fence, Knuckles and his crew were standing in front of it.

The fence looked like it had been trampled down, knocked flat.

Omega blinked, "Crap, looks like the rex got into the sauropod padlock."

"Fine dining tonight," Knuckles said.

"We gotta get him out."

"With what?" Knuckles said, "We haven't got anything to use on the rex. I'll fix this fence, but I'm not going in there until daylight. That's just suicide."

"Hammond won't like that….."

"Yeah? Well he can discuss it with me when I get back.

"How many sauropods will it kill," Big asked, pacing around the control room at a quick speed for an old man.

"Probably only one," Silver said, "the rex can feed of a single kill for several days."

"The sauropods _are _big," Amy agreed.

"We have to get him out." Big said, "Tonight."

Knuckles shook his head, "No I'm not going in there until daylight."

Big glared over, his whiskers were twitching, which only happened when he was extremely angry, "Are you forgetting who you work for?"

"I haven't forgotten Mr. Hammond. But are _you _forgetting that we have a full grown tyrannosaur out there? How do you plan to get it out?"

"We have the tranquilizer guns."

Silver crossed his arms, "We had tranquilizer darts for animals that are four to five hundred pounds. That tyrannosaur weighs eight tones. It wouldn't even feel it."

"We ordered a larger weapon…"

"I ordered five larger weapons," Knuckles snapped, "But you Mr. Hammond cut it down to one, and now that one is missing. Nedry took it."

"Well that was pretty stupid. Who let that happen?" Big said coolly

"I'm not in charge of Nedry, Mr. Hammond," Knuckles said.

"So you're telling me. That at this very moment, there is no way to stop the tyrannosaur."

"That is exactly what I'm saying to you."

"That's outlandish."

It's your park Mr. Hammond," Knuckles said, "You didn't want anybody hurting your _'precious' _dinosaurs. Well now you have a tyrannosaurus rex in your sauropod padlock and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it." And then her shut of his radio.

Now wait just a minute," Big shouted, but it wasto late, Knuckles was not going to respond. Big growled and stormed out of the room.

Gennaro winced at the shouting and the cursing outside. He glanced at the screens then looked to Omega, "Looks like you really don't have control of the park after all."

Omega lit a cigarette, "Trust me kiddo, we have the park. We may lose a few dinos before we get the tyrannosaur out of there. But believe me, we have the park."

* * *

><p>Sonic peeked open an eye as he awoke to the sound of grinding, he looked up to see a conveyor belt lifting up bales of hay to the ceiling, four more bales followed, then there was silence in the building again.<p>

Sonic yawned. He sat up slowly and winced in pain. Stretching and wincing some more he looked lazily out at the yellow light pouring through the side windows.

Wait. Yellow light?

It was morning! He had slept the whole night! He looked swiftly down at his watch, 5:00 a.m. Still six hours to go before the ship reached the mainland. He stood up, groaning a little as his ankle let out a protest of pain. His head was throbbing and he felt like he had been beat up. Wait a minute…..that's ride he _had _been beaten up…..By and Tyrannosaurs rex!

He paused as he heard a squeaking sound, and Cream giggling. He looked down at the pile of hay. No one, where were the kids? He heard Cream giggle again and relaxed, if she was giggling than things must be fine for the moment.

Now that it was daylight he looked around the building. He could tell it was used for maintenance, full of stacks of hay and supplies. On a wall he saw a grey box marked SAURPOD MAINTENANCE BLDG (O4). So that meant we are somewhere in the sauropod padlock, good, no carnivores, he thought. He opened the box and saw a telephone; he picked it up quickly, but only heard static. He sighed, "I guess they don't have the phones working yet."

"Chew your food," he heard Cream say, "Come on, don't be a piggy, chew your food."

Sonic walked around the corner to see Cream standing at the entrance. She was sticking her hands through the bar and was feeding hay to what seemed a large pig, it was making squeaking noises. Sonic took a second glance and realized it was an infant triceratops, about the size of a pony. It didn't have any horns, just a large curved bony frill behind its big eyes. It poked its snout between the bars, wanting Cream to feed it more hay. She handed it some, it's big eyes watching her as it chewed.

"That's better," Creamed cooed, "There's plenty of hay, don't worry." She patted the infant on the head, "You like hay don't you Betty?"

Cream turned and saw him, she smiled.

"This is Betty," Cream said, "She's my friend, and she likes to eat hay."

Sonic took a slow step forward, but stopped, wincing.

"You don't look so good," Cream said.

"I feel pretty crummy, yes."

"Tails too, his nose is all swollen and his face has bruise."

"Where is Tails anyway?"

"Going to the bathroom," She said casually, "Wanna feed Betty?"

The baby looked at Sonic as if understanding Cream's words. Hay stuck out on either side of its mouth, falling to the floor as it chewed.

"She's a very sloppy eater," Cream said. "And she's very hungry."

The baby finished chewing and opened its mouth, waiting for more. Sonic noticed it had small, slender, and sharp teeth inside, and a beaky upper jaw. Sorta like a parrot or some other bird.

"Okay, okay Betty, give me a minute." Cream said, she scooped up more straw from the floor, "Seriously Betty, you act like your mother never fed you."

"May I ask Cream… Why is her name Betty."

"Because she looks like Betty, from school."

"That's kinda mean." Sonic said as he came closer and touched the infant gently.

"She likes it when you pet her," Cream said, "Don't you Betty?"

The skin was warm and dry, and pebbled, sorta like a football. Betty let out a little squeak of joy and Sonic petted her. Outside, the tail swung back and forth with delight. It showed absolutely no fear. It reminded Sonic that these animals were not used to humans yet.

"Betty is pretty tame."

"Maybe I can ride her," Cream said.

"UUHHHH…Let's not."

"I bet she'd let me," Cream argued, "It be fun to ride a dinosaur."

"I'm sure it would," Sonic sighed, "But you're not riding her." He looked out past the animal and out to the field. It was getting lighter out, and he needed to go outside and set off one of the motion sensors. After all, it will probably take the people in the control room about an hour to get here, and Sonic didn't like the fact that the phones still weren't working.

There was a deep snorting sound nearby, it sounded almost like a horse….Only bigger. The baby suddenly became agitated and tried to pull its head out of the bars, but the edge of the frill was caught. It let out a terrified squeak.

"Hey Betty! Calm down." Cream said.

The snorting came again. It was a lot closer this time.

"Push her out," Sonic said. He reached up and grabbed onto Betty's head, leaning against it, he pushed the head sideways and backward. The frill popped free and the baby fell backward, losing balance, falling onto its side. The baby was covered in shadow, and a huge foot came down, thicker than a tree trunk. It had five curved toenails, like an elephant.

Betty looked up and let out a squeak. A head came down: six feet long, three white horns. It was a adult triceratops. It glanced over at Sonic and Cream and then down at the infant. A tongue came out and licked the baby. Betty squeaked and rubbed against the leg.

"Is that her mom?" Cream asked.

"I suppose so." Sonic answered.

"Oh! Should we feed the mom too?" Cream said.

But the triceratops had turned away from the bars and walked off. She nudged Betty with her snout pushing her along.

"Guess not."

"Bye Betty!" Cream called out, waving. Tails walked out of the shadows.

"Okay you guys," Sonic said, "I'm going up on the hill to set off the motion sensors, so they will know back at control that we are here. You two stay here and wait for me.

"No," Cream said.

"Why? You should stay here. It's safe."

"You're not leaving us," Cream stated, "Right Tails?"

"Right." He agreed.

Sonic opened his mouth, but then thought about Regis. He let out a sigh, "Fine." He huffed.

They crawled through the bars and stepped outside.

It was almost dawn now.

The air was warm and humid; the sky was a soft pink. A white mist lay low over the ground. Some distance away there was the triceratops and her baby moving along, just past them, was a herd of duck-billed hadrosaurs gathered around the lagoon.

Some of the duck bills were standing knee deep in the lagoon, drinking. Some of the babies played around, squeaking every time they touched the water.

Farther south were other hadrosaurs. An apatosaurs lifted its head above the tree tops and let out a bellow. Its graceful neck swinging around, it was all so peaceful. Sonic found it hard for him to believe that this place was actually dangerous.

"Wow, Tails!" Cream gasped suddenly, "Look! What is that?"

Sonic turned as two giant dragonflies with 4 feet worth of wingspan buzz by. "Dragonflies," he said, "Insects were bigger in Jurassic times.

"Much bigger," Tails mumbled. He stuck out his arm as the large bug landed on him. It wasn't too heavy, but defiantly heavier than the average bug.

"Do they bite people?" Cream asked.

"I don't think so." Sonic said.

The dragonfly slowly flapped its wings, Tails moved his arm slightly, and then the animal took off, with an amazing burst of speed…

Defiantly hard to believe that this place was dangerous.

Sonic walked up to the familiar black box and waved his hands in front of it. He moved in front of it for about two minutes but nothing happened. Perhaps, since the phones were down, as was the motion sensors. "Let's try another," he suggested, looking across the field. He went stiff as somewhere in the distance, there was the roar of a large animal.

* * *

><p>"Damn it," Omega huffed, "I just can't find it." He took a large swig of coffee and looked down at the monitor. He had been working for twelve hours, looking through all the codes, one by one. He looked over with sleepy eyes as Charmy walked in from the labs.<p>

"Haven't found what?" He asked.

"The phones still aren't working," Omega sighed, "I think that bastard Ivo did something to them."

"He did a lot of things," Charmy said as he reached for a phone, he picked it up and listened to the hissing, "Sounds like a modem to me."

"Sadly it is not," Omega said, "Because I went down into the basement, and shut of all the modems, what your hearing is a white noise that sounds like a modem."

"So they are jammed?" Charmy asked.

"Yes, and they are jammed pretty damn good too." Omega growled, "Ivo installed as lockout code into the program code. I can't find it because I used the command code which erases the program listings. But the command should be still in the computer's memory system."

Charmy sat down, "Then, just reset: shut the system down and you'll clear the memory."

"We've never done it before….." Omega trailed off, "And I'm reluctant to it. They may start back up, they may not. I'm not a computer expert and neither are you. And without a open phone line, we are unable to call someone who is…"

Mighty Gennaro stormed into the room suddenly, Amy following after, "Mr. Gennaro if you would please calm down."

He ignored her, "Why are the phones still not working?"

"Working on it Mr. Gennaro," Omega said coolly.

"Working in it?" Mighty steamed, "Working on it? You've been 'working' on it for twelve hours. And Malcolm is getting worse, he needs medical attention."

"I can shut the system down," Omega explained, "But I can't be sure everything will come back on."

Mighty crossed his arms; "Look here. There is a seriously injured man over in the lodge. He needs a doctor or he'll die. Do you hear me? Four people are probably dead already! So shut the bloody system down and get the phones working!"

Omega started to stand but paused.

"Well?"

"It's just the safety systems won't let the system shut-"

"Then shut the bloody safety systems off! Can't you get it through your thick head that he will die if we don't get him help!" Mighty snapped.

Omega sighed and rubbed his metal arm, "Okay."

He got up and went to the main panel. He opened the doors and uncovered the metal swing-latches over the safety switches. He turned them all off, one after the other. "You asked for it," Omega said. "And you got it."

He threw the master switch.

Everything went dark. All the monitors turned off. The four of them, Omega, Mighty, Charmy and Amy, stood there silently, Omega seemed tense.

"How long must we wait?" Mighty asked.

"Thirty seconds," Omega said.

* * *

><p>"Ugh!" Cream gagged, they were currently crossing the field.<p>

"What is it?" Tails asked.

"That smell," Cream complained, "It's nasty!"

Sonic hesitated. He slowly looked around the field. He saw nothing. There was hardly a breeze to stir anything. It was peaceful and completely silent. "I think you are imagining things." He said slowly.

"But I'm not."

"Are you-?"

He stopped, there was a honking sound, and it was coming from the duckbills. They were agitated, scrambling out of the water and circling the young ones, protecting them.

They can smell it as well, Sonic thought.

There was a deafening roar. The tyrannosaur, burst out from the foliage no less than fifty feet from them, near the lagoon. It crossed the field in leaping bounds, ignoring them and charging for the duckbills.

"I told you!" Cream screamed in fright.

The duckbills were honking and starting to run. The ground rumbled under their feet. Sonic began to run, scooping up Cream in a midstride, and grabbing Tails's hand with his free hand. He caught a glimpse of the tyrannosaur snapping at the duckbills, they responded by swing their tails. He heard crashing and branches snapping, he looked back again and gasped.

The duckbills were charging.

* * *

><p>It was dark in the control room, Omega looked at his watch. It had been a 40 seconds, plenty of time for the memory to be cleared. He pushed the main power switch back ne.<p>

Nothing happened.

Omega felt his stomach twist, his metal arm felt like it was burning. He pushed the switch off, then on again. Still nothing happened. He felt sweat forming.

"Why aren't the lights back on?" Amy said.

"Crap," Omega hissed. The he remembered. He relaxed slightly, he remembered her had to turn the safety switches back on before you restart the power. He flipped safeties, and then placed his hand on the master switch. He held his breath, and turned on the main power switch.

The room lights came back on. The computers beeped. The screens hummed.

"Oh thank the Lord," Charmy sighed.

Omega hurried to the main computer where lists of labels were showing up on the screen.

Mighty reached for the phone, but not a single sound came out. No static, no hissing, just silence, "What's going on, the phone still isn't working."

"Give me a sec," Omega huffed, "I have to reset all the systems modules manually now." He was now quickly working.

"Why manually," Mighty said.

"Will you just let me work?"

Charmy walked up to Mighty, "The system was never meant to shut down. So if it does shut down, it automatically presumes there is a problem somewhere. It requires for the user to reset the system manually, otherwise it will short out somewhere. Start up again and short out again, just over and over. It is and endless cycle."

"Okay," Omega said suddenly, "We're going."

Mighty quickly picked up the phone and started to dial. He stopped suddenly however. "Chaos look at the screen," He said. He pointed at one of the video monitors.

Amy and Charmy looked up confused "Oh, my, word," Amy gasped. Omega didn't listen. He stared at the map; there was a small cluster of dots by the lagoon that had started to move. Moving fast, in a kind of swirl, coordinated and panic like.

"What in the world is happening?" Mighty asked.

"It's the duckbills," Omega said, his voice completely monotone, "They've begun to stamped."

**Hey Everyone! I'm back!**

**I didn't really want to update because people were reading my story, but I wasn't getting any reviews, so it was a little discouraged.**

**So if you could please comment, give me some feed back, advice even, that would me SOOOO much to me. And to show i like you guys, I'm giving you and extra chapter to read, so please, PLEASE! Comment or Something!**


	16. The Park

**The Park**

The duckbills were charging at an incredibly fast pace. They were in a tight cluster, the babies squealing, trying not to get crushed. The herd was nearly swallowed in a cloud of dust. Sonic was unable to see the tyrannosaur.

But he knew one thing. It was that the hadrosaurs were coming right towards them.

He was still carrying Cream, he ran with Tails toward a rocky outcrop, with big conifer trees near it. They were running hard, feeling the ground shaking beneath them. His ankle was burning, it was screaming for him to stop, but he kept running, he couldn't stop. The sound of the approaching herd was deafening, like a jet was coming towards them. Cream was screaming in panic, saying something to him. But he couldn't hear her. They scrambled onto the rocks as the herd closed in around them.

Sonic looked over to see the immense legs of the duckbills, the animals were all probably five tons is weight, if one of them hit them…One animal struck a boulder and bellowed in pain, it ran past them out to the field and beyond.

In the dense cloud of dust, they could barely see beyond. They clung to the boulders, listening to the deafening sounds of screams, honking, and the roar of the tyrannosaur. It was absolutely terrifying. Cream dug her fingers into Sonic's arm and pressed against him.

Another hadrosaur slammed its large tail against the rock; hot blood flew in the air, splashing against Tails's fur. Sonic waited until the sounds of the stamped started to move towards the right. He shoved the kids up and pushed them to start climbing the largest tree. The climbed swiftly, feeling for branches, slipping, scrambling, and trying desperately to climb. The animals stampeded below them, throwing dust into the air. They managed to get up fifteen feet before Tails was too tired to climb, and Cream refused to go any further. She clutched onto Sonic, refusing to let go, Sonic looked down, they seemed high enough up, they should be fine.

He hoped.

Sonic looked down to see the large backs of the animals as they ran in panic. Sonic sighed and leaned against the rough bark, he coughed as his lungs filled with dust, closed his eyes and waited for it to end.

* * *

><p>Omega grumbled something as he adjusted the camera as the herd continued moving. The dust slowly settled back down to the ground, and he could see the hadrosaurs had stopped running, and the tyrannosaur wasn't running either. He sighed, "Looks like the rex got another kill today." He looked at the video monitor again, the rex was near the lagoon, "Better get Knuckles to head out and see how bad it is."<p>

"I'll go get him," Mighty said, and he left the room.

* * *

><p>Sonic felt something warm and wet tickling his left ankle. He opened his eyes and looked down. He saw the large head of a duckbill. The animal chewed peacefully on the branch were Sonic's leg was, its lips brushing against his ankle again.<p>

A duckbill hadrosaur, he was amazed to see it up close. He wasn't afraid of course, it was an herbivore, and this one acted similar to a cow. It may have been huge, but he didn't feel threatened by it. He sat there, unmoving, watching it eat.

There was a small chirping noise, and the large head went down. Sonic leaned over just enough to see a baby hadrosaur scampering around the adult's feet. It balanced on its hind legs and ate the branches sticking out of its mother's mouth.

The mother waited before the baby finished eating and then lifted its head up to eat from the branches, only a few feet from Sonic. The dinosaur didn't seem to smell him. Its right eye was looking at him, but the animal didn't seem to react to the azure hedgehog.

Sonic thought back on the tyrannosaur, it had failed to see him when he remained still. Perhaps if he…Sonic smirked, he decided to do a little experiment.

He coughed slightly.

Immediately, the animal froze, it wasn't eating, it wasn't moving. Only the eye moved, looking for the source of the sound and the danger. Then after a moment, the animal resumed chewing.

Sonic smiled, amazing.

Sitting in his arms, Cream opened her eyes and almost screamed, "Eek! What is that?"

The duckbill let out a trumpet of alarm, and Cream almost fell out of the tree, "Will she eat us?" she asked, watching the duckbill take a step back. "No," Sonic replied, "She eats only plants,"

"Don't make her mad Cream." Tails said from the branch above them.

Cream looked at the animal which was staring at the trio quizzically.

"Is it dumb?"

"No," Sonic said, "You just startled her."

She began to climb down. The duckbill let out another startled honk at her movement. However, agitated with the strange creatures, she moved away, herding the baby duckbill to another tree.

As they reached the bottom, Tails brushed himself off. Both children had been covered in a thin layer of dust, and were now dirtier than before, Sonic was no exception. The ground around them was trampled, and streaks of blood smeared everywhere. It smelled like rotten flesh.

Sonic looked at his watch, "We better get moving.

"No," Cream said, "Not me, I'm not walking anymore."

"We have to."

"Why?"

"Because we're the only ones who know about the boat," Sonic sighed, "We have to tell them about it, and since the motion sensors don't seem to be working, we have to walk all the way back. It's the only way, I'm sorry Cream."

"Can't we just take the raft?" Tails said.

"Raft?"

"Yeah, I saw a raft," Tails pointed to the maintenance building where they had spent the night, "I saw a raft back there." The building was twenty yards across the field.

Sonic quickly understood the advantages, traveling by raft would be much faster than traveling by land. They had at least eight miles to go. The river would be much faster. But then….It was water…..He frowned, no; they had to get to the lodge and warn control about the raptors. They had to take the raft. No matter how much he despised water. "Alright let's do it." Sonic said.

* * *

><p>Omega pressed the button for visual mode and watched as images of the park began appearing on the screen, then changing every two seconds. It was exhausting to watch, but it had to be done. It was the fastest way to find Ivo's Jeep, he wanted that car, he wanted those weapons.<p>

Charmy was supposed to be helping him, so where was he?

The intercom clicked, "Mr. Omega, may I have a word with you please?"

It was Big Hammond.

"You want to come to the control room, Mr. Hammond?"

"No, Mr. Omega," Big said, "You come to me. I'm in the genetics lab with Dr. Wu. We'll be waiting."

So that is where Charmy was. Omega sighed and stepped away from the screens.

* * *

><p>Sonic stumbled into the deep reaches of the building. He pushed past five gallon containers, tree pruning equipment, spare tires, and coils of fencing, fertilizer bags, motor oil machines, lights and cables.<p>

"I don't see a raft Tails."

Thank heaven.

"He saw two oars on the wall, but no raft. Sonic saw a set of plans on the floor; it was brown and a little moldy from the humidity. He spread the plans out and looked at them. It was a geographical map of the island. According to the map, the lagoon narrowed into a river, which flowed under the aviary, and on to a half mile from the lodge. It was perfect, that is if they could find a raft. He scanned the plans; there should be a door in the back of the building. Sonic looked up and went over to the door. It was wide enough for a car to fit through, he opened it, there was a paved road running straight down toward the lagoon. It was dug below ground level, so it wasn't visible from above, it ran to a dock and a storage shed marked, RAFT STORAGE.

Dang it.

"Hey Dr. Grant look what I found!" Tails said suddenly. Sonic turned around to see Tails holding out a large metal box. Sonic opened it and peered inside. He found a compressed-air pistol and a cloth belt that held darts. There were six darts total, all about as thick as his middle finger.

"Way to go Tails," Sonic said, he slung the belt across his waste, and slipped the gun into one of his cargo pants pockets.

"Is it a tranqulizer gun?"

"I think it is."

"What about our raft?" Cream asked.

Sonic looked at the door, "I think it's outside by the dock." He opened the door again and they walked down the road, Sonic carried the oars on his shoulder. "I hope it's big," Cream mumbled, "Cause I can't swim very well."

And I don't swim period, Sonic thought. "Don't worry about it," He said out loud.

"I hope we can catch some fish," Cream said.

"Yeah, that probably won't be happening."

They walked down the road with the embankment rising up on either side of them. There was a deep snorting sound, but Sonic couldn't see the source.

"Are you sure it's down there?" Tails asked.

"I'm sure," Sonic replied.

The snorting became louder; there was also a steady drone. When they reached the end of the road and approached the edge of the small concrete dock. Sonic froze, Cream and Tails backed up terrified.

The tyrannosaur was _right there._

It was sitting upright, resting in the shade of a tree, its massive hind legs stretched out. Its eyes were open, but it wasn't moving. Swarms of flies were everywhere, on its fangs, its face, and the lifeless remains of a hadrosaur, which lay next to the rex.

It was only twenty yards away. Sonic swore the animal had seen him, but it hadn't responded. Then he realized it, it was asleep, sitting up, with it's eyes open, but defiantly asleep.

He looked back at Tails and Cream, they were both pale with fright. He gestured for them to stay put, and then slowly, very slowly, moved forward out onto the dock. He was in full view of the animal, but it remained sleeping.

_You're crazy_, a voice inside his head was telling him.

Near the end of the dock, was the shed. He quietly unlatched the door and peeked inside. There were two rubber cubs on the floor tightened down with straps.

Rafts.

He looked back at the kids, Tails mouthed, _No boat?_

He nodded at him, _Yes._

The tyrannosaur lifted a forelimb and swiped at the flies that were in its face, but did nothing more. Sonic slowly pulled one of the cubes onto the dock. It was heavy. He released the straps and found the inflation device.

_Don't do this, you're going to get yourself killed, you're going to get the __**kids**__ killed,_ the voice was saying.

With a loud rubber hiss the cube expanded and then, with a _hiss_ and a _whap _it popped open onto the deck. Sonic winced, the sound was painfully loud.

_Your trying to commit suicide aren't you?_

He slowly looked at the dinosaur.

The animal snorted and began to move. Sonic braced himself to run. But the animals just shifted and then relaxed against the tree again. It let out a belch.

Sonic gagged, and tried not to heave, oh chaos, the smell could wake the dead.

His fur and shirt were soaked from sweat. He dragged the boat across the dock and pushed it into the water, it made a loud splash.

The rex slept on.

He tied the boat loosely to the dock and went back to the shed, he pulled out two life preservers. He placed them in the boat and gestured for the kids.

Cream became paler and shook her head, waving her hands in a very clear answer:_ No._

He gestured encouragingly: _Yes._

No was the immediate response.

The tyrannosaur snorted.

Sonic stabbed an empathetic finger at her. Cream came silently and got into the boat, slipping on her life preserver. Tails got in after and did like-wise. Tails looked up and Sonic and gestured to his life vest with a questioning look. _Are you going to wear one? _Sonic shook his head, _No, there was only two._

_Smooth, so if you do survive the dinosaur, you can drown yourself instead. _The voice was almost mocking him now.

Sonic climbed into the raft and pushed off; they drifted silently out into the lagoon. Sonic picked up the paddles and fitted them into the oarlocks. They were farther from the dock.

Tails looked over to see Cream let out a small sigh of relief and lean back. Suddenly she became rigid, she covered her mouth. Her body began shaking, with a muffled sounds escaping from her mouth. She was desperately trying to suppress a cough.

Tails wanted to scream. She _always _coughed at the wrong times!

"Cream," he whispered fiercely, he glanced back at the tyrannosaur.

She shook her head and pointed at her throat. She needed water. Tails scooped water out of the lagoon cupping it in his hands he held it out to her.

Cream coughed loudly. In Tails's ears, the sound exploded like a gunshot across the lagoon. Sonic looked down sharply, for had not noticed the problem. His eyes sparked with brief panic. He looked back at the tyrannosaur and paled. He quickly pulled out an oar and began to paddle as silently and as quickly as possible.

The tyrannosaur yawned lazily and stretch. It was still full from its last meal, and was waking up slowly.

Cream started to make suppressed sounds.

"Cream, please, be quiet."

"I can't," She whimpered, she coughed again. Sonic was paddling hard now, moving the raft towards the center of the lagoon.

On the shore the tyrannosaur stumbled to its feet.

"I couldn't help it Miles," Cream cried, "I'm sorry!"

"Shhhh,"

Sonic was now rowing as fast as he could.

"I doesn't matter anyway Miles," she said. "He can't swim."

"Of course he can swim you big dummy!" Tails shouted. The tyrannosaur now stepped of the dock and plunged into the water. It moved strongly into the lagoon after them.

"Well how should I have known?"

"It's all in the books! And besides all reptiles can swim!"

"Not snakes."

"They can swim too! Haven't you heard of a sea snake?"

"Settle down both of you!" Sonic snapped, he changed tone, "Just...Just hold onto something. Sonic looked back at the tyrannosaur watching it swim. It was chest deep in water yet somehow managed to hold it's above the water. That's when he realized it was walking, because two seconds later only the top of its head was above water. By now it looked like a crocodile, swinging its big tail back and forth.

Exactly like a crocodile, Sonic thought unhappily. The biggest bloody crocodile in the whole world.

_You are going to die._

Sonic looked forward. The lagoon was no more than a hundred yards wide here, he had almost reached the center. If he moved on, the water would become shallow again and the rex would be able to walk. If he could walk then he would move faster. Sonic swung the boat around and began rowing north.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Cream screamed.

_You are defiantly going to die now._

He didn't answer, the tyrannosaur was a few yards away now. Sonic could hear the sharp snorting breaths as it came closer. Sonic looked at the paddle in his hands, it was plastic, hardly a weapon to fight a rex with.

The tyrannosaur threw its head back. Opening its jaws wide it revealed it rows of curved teeth, and then with a surge lunged forward towards the raft, just missing it. The huge head splashed down, the raft rocking away.

The tyrannosaur slipped below the surface, leave large bubbles. The lagoon became silent. Cream gripped the handles of the raft and peered cautiously at the water, "Did he drown?"

"No," Sonic said. He saw bubbles-then a faint ripple on the surface-coming towards the boat-

"Hang on!" He shouted. The massive head bucked up beneath the boat, bending the rubber and lifting them into the air, spinning the crazily before the raft splashed down again. The kids screamed in fright.

"Do something!" Cream cried.

Sonic pulled out the air pistol. It looked awful pitiful right now. But perhaps if he shot it in a sensitive spot, like the eye…..

The tyrannosaur surfaced by the boat and roared. Sonic aimed and fired. The dart flashed in the sunlight and smacked into the cheek. The tyrannosaur shook its head and roared again.

There was an answering roar.

Sonic looked over to see the juvenile rex standing on the shore over the dead duckbill. It roared, claiming the kill as its own. The adult tyrannosaur saw this as well and the response was immediate –It turned back to protect its kill.

"Yes!" Tails cheered, "He's going away!"

From the shore the juvenile slashed at the carcass. Enraged the adult burst from the lagoon at full speed, water falling like small waterfalls from its enormous body. It raced up the hill past the dock. The juvenile turned and fled, its jaws still holding flesh.

Te big tyrannosaur chased it, racing by its meal, disappearing over the hill The heard another threatening bellow before the raft moved around a bend in the lagoon and into the river.

A wave of exhaustion swept over Sonic, he collapsed back onto the boat, his chest heaving up and down. He couldn't catch his breath, he lay there gasping.

Tails crawled over, "Are you alright Dr. Grant."

Sonic took in a deep breath and nodded, still gasping.

"Are you sure you are okay Dr. Grant?" Cream asked.

"Yes….." Sonic said, he paused, "Just…From now on, will you just do what I tell you?"

"Oh-kay," Cream huffed; it sounded like he had asked her the most unreasonable demand in the world. She dipped her fingers in the water, "You stopped rowing…." She said.

"Cream, I'm tired," Sonic sighed.

"Then how come we are still moving?"

Sonic painfully sat up, and looked. The girl was right, the raft drifted steadily north, "Hmm, there must be a current." The current was carrying them north, towards the hotel, that was good, that meant he wouldn't have to paddle the whole way. He looked at his watch and couldn't help but feel surprised, it had only been fifteen minutes since he had last checked his watch. It was a quarter after seven. Chaos, these last few moments had felt like two hours.

He leaned back, exhausted, he closed his eyes and drifted off.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm so cruel, lol. I just don't give Sonic and the kids a break do I?<strong>

**And to top it off I put Sonic in water. Oh Well. LOL**

**I guess I better type about the others soon, or I might forget where I was going with them all together.**

**Okay, so enjoy, hope you liked this Chapter. :)**

**-Silver Silence**


	17. Search

**Search**

Mighty sighed as he sat in the jeep, listening to the annoying buzz of flies. He glanced out the window at the palm trees, trying to ignore the heat.

"My word it looks like a battle ground." Silver mumbled from his spot in the driver seat.

Mighty nodded in agreement. The ground around them was trampled, one of the palms was uprooted and blood smeared the grass, and on a rocky outcrop to their right.

Knuckles sitting in the front passenger seat, took a sip of water. "No doubt about it. Rex has been through here."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Mighty asked.

No one answered straight away. "There are tyrannosaurs rexes out there somewhere…." Silver trailed off.

"And we have no weapons to take them out," Knuckles growled.

"We are in a Jeep."

"He can outrun our Jeep," Silver huffed, "When we are on open terrain, doing four wheel drive, the best we can do is thirty to forty miles an hour. The adult will run us right down."

"I don't see much movement out there right now," Knuckles said, he looked at Mighty and Silver, "Ready to live dangerously?"

Silver smirked, "You know I'm always ready."

Mighty shrugged, "Sure, why not. It's not like it couldn't get any more dangerous."

The radio on the jeep buzzed, "This is Omega over."

Silver picked up the radio, "This is Silver, what do you need Omega?"

"I've got something for you."'

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"I found Ivo Nedry."

* * *

><p>The Jeep burst past the palm trees and went speeding along a narrow service road that ran along the jungle river. Up ahead Mighty could make out a concrete barrier and the other Jeep parked right next to it.<p>

"What did he take?" Mighty asked.

"Fifteen embryos is what Charmy said." Silver replied.

"You know how much that costs?" Knuckles asked. Mighty shook his head, Knuckles frowned, "It costs somewhere between ten and fifteen million,"

As the car pulled up, Mighty noticed there was a body laying next the Jeep.

It was green.

As the car stopped, the green shapes scattered away. "Compys," Knuckles said, "The compys got him." A dozen or so of the creatures about the size of ducks, stood at the jungle clearing chirping and hopping over one another. They started to chirp excitedly as the three men got out of the car.

Ivo Nedry lay on his back, his chubby face red an bloated, his mouth hung open and his thick tongue prodded out. His stomach was ripped open and his intestines spilled out, one leg was completely chewed through. Flies buzzed everywhere and –

Mighty turned away, suddenly sick to his stomach. He turned his focus to the compys who still remained at the edge of the clearing.

"Well what do ya know," Knuckles said, "The compys didn't get him."

"Then what did?" Silver asked.

"Well look," Knuckles said, "You see these dried splotches on his shirt and face, and that smell of dried vomit?

Mighty slowly turned around to see what they were talking about.

Silver leaned in, "Damn, your right. The dilophosaurs got him."

"Yep, tore him right down the middle. Not a really pleasant way to go, I guess there is justice in this twisted world after all."

Silver stepped around the body and opened the back door of the Ivo's Jeep. 'They're still in here." He pulled out two grey tubes and handed them to Knuckles.

Mighty eyed the objects, "What are those?"

Knuckles looked at him, "They are exactly what they look like. Rockets." Mighty went to step back, "Careful," Silver said, "You might step in something."

Mighty let out a sigh and carefully moved his way around Nedry and towards Silver's jeep. Silver climbed into the driver's seat and revved up the engine, Knuckles climbed in passenger. Mighty looked back at Ivo, "What about him?"

"What about him?" Knuckles said, "We got things to do." Silver turned the car around and Gennaro Mighty looked back to see a compy hop onto Ivo's face and nibble on his nose.

* * *

><p>The jungle river was extremely narrow now. The banks closed in on either side till the trees hung over them, blocking out the warm sun. Tails leaned back as he listened to the sounds of birds and tree frogs and small dinosaurs. Other than that however, the air was still and calm.<p>

He looked at Dr. Grant. The blue hedgehog was sleepily checking his watch. "What time is it Dr. Grant?"

"Eight o'clock."

They continued drifting, Tails felt grateful for a moment of peace, especially after almost being killed by the adult tyrannosaur…again. They seemed to be drifting much faster now. Dr. Grant, who was now fully awake from his short nap, looked at the front of the boat to see Cream standing up.

"What are you doing?"

"Do you think we can eat these berries?" Cream asked, pointing up at a cluster of red berries hanging from the trees.

Dr. Grant eyed them for a moment, "No." he said

"Why not? The little dinosaurs are eating them."

"No Cream."

She sat down with a huff, obviously unhappy with his authority, "I wish daddy were here, he always knows what to do."

Tails frowned "Cream, he _never _knows what to do."

She sighed, "Yes he does, and you don't have to be mean….." She stared of into the trees, "Just because your not is favorite…."

The insult stung, but Tails just looked away and said nothing.

"Oh don't worry Miles, Daddy still likes you, too. Even if you're only into computers and not sports."

"Dad is really into sports," Tails explained to Dr. Grant.

Grant nodded. Up above in the trees, small pale yellow dinosaurs, barely a foot tall, were hoping from branch to branch. Their heads resembled some similarities to a parrot.

Tails pointed at them, "You know what those are called?" he said, "Microceratops."

Grant smiled at him, but Cream crossed her arms, "Big deal."

"I just thought you might be interested."

"Only very little boys," Cream said, "Are interested in dinosaurs."

"Says who!"

"Daddy."

That did it, Tails started to yell, but Grant lifted his hands, "Kids…" he said, "Please, shut up."

"Why!" Cream complained, "I can do what I want, if I-"

She stopped. Because she had heard it too. It was a bloodcurdling shriek, coming from farther down the river.

* * *

><p>"Omega, where is the damn rex?" Knuckles asked angrily into the radio. They were back in the sauropod compound, were the hadrosaurs had stampeded. The tyrannosaurs rex however, was nowhere to be found.<p>

"Checking, give me a sec." Omega said, and the radio clicked off.

"Checking give me a sec," Knuckles imitated, he sat down next to Silver and Mighty who were seated on the hood of the car, "Why didn't he check before? Why didn't he keep track of him?"

"I don't know Knuckles, now chill," Silver sighed.

"He's not showing up," Omega said, not a moment later.

Mighty knew that Muldoon was already a bright shade of red, but he could have sworn that the furious echidna had gotten redder. "What do you mean, he's not showing up!" Knuckles snapped.

"He's not on the monitors. Motion sensors can't pick him up."

"So much for bloody motion sensors," Silver mumbled.

"Great," Knuckles said, "Do you see Grant and the kids then?"

"Motion sensors can't find them either."

"Well what are we gonna do?" Mighty asked.

"We wait," Omega said.

* * *

><p>"Wow, look at it!"<p>

"It's huge! Do you see it Dr. Grant?"

Directly ahead, the big dome of the aviary rose above them. Sonic had seen it from a distance earlier, during the tour, but now he realized it was enormous. He had to be at least a quarter of a mile in diameter. His first thought was the glass must way a tone. But then, as they came closer, he saw there wasn't any glass-just struts A thing mesh hung inside the elements.

"Why isn't it finished?" Cream asked.

"I think it's supposed to open like that." Sonic said.

"That's stupid. Then all the birds can fly out."

"Not if they're _big _birds." Sonic said.

The river carried them to the edge of the dome. They all looked upward. They were inside the dome now, still drifting down river. But within seconds the dome was so high above them it was lost in the mists. Sonic scratched an ear, "I vaguely remember there was a second lodge here." Not a moment later, he saw a roof of a building over the tops of the trees to the north.

"Are we stopping?" Tails asked.

"Yes," Sonic said, "There might be a phone, or a motion sensor." He steered the raft towards the shore. "We need to get a hold of the control room. Before it's too late.

They climbed clumsily out of the boat. Sonic dragged the raft out of the water. Then tying the rope to a tree they set off, through the dense forest, and towards the lodge.

* * *

><p>"I don't get it," Omega said, he was speaking into a phone. "I don't see the rex, I don't see Grant, and I don't see the kids either."<p>

He was sitting in the front consoles and took another chug of coffee. All around him, paper plates and half eaten sandwiches were sitting around. Omega was dead tired. It was already 8:00 a.m. Saturday. In the fourteen hours since Ivo Nedry had destroyed the computer running Jurassic Park, Omega had slowly and patiently pulled the systems back online, one after the other. "All the parks systems are functioning. The phones are working, I've called a doctor for you."

On the other end of the phone line, he heard Malcolm cough painfully. And that made him nervous. Omega was talking to him in his room at the lodge. "But you're having trouble with the motion sensors?" Shadow asked.

"Well I'm certainly not finding what I'm looking for."

"Like the rex?"

"He's not reading at all now. He headed north twenty minutes ago, following the edge of the river, and then I lost him. I'm not sure why, unless he has gone to sleep again."

"And you can't find Grant and the kids?"

"No. They haven't showed up at all."

"The answer is quite simple," Shadow said, "The motion sensors cover an inadequate area."

"Inadequate?" Omega said, "It covers 92-"

"Ninety-two percent of the land, I remember," Shadow said, "Except at the maintenance road, or the jungle river, or the beaches. The animals can escape easily using those uncovered areas."

"Even if that were so," Omega said, "the animals are too stupid to know that."

"You don't know that," Shadow replied, "After all, look at the raptors."

"You think Grant and the kids are in the uncovered areas?" Omega asked.

"Defiantly not," Shadow said. He coughed again, harder this time, and "Grant is no fool, that I'm pretty sure off. He clearly wants to be detected. He and the kids are probably waving at every motion sensor they come across. But maybe they have problems that we don't know about. Or maybe they are on the river."

"I can't imagine why." Omega said, "The banks are too narrow, you couldn't walk along it."

"Would the river lead to here?"

"Yes, but it dangerous, because it passes under the aviary…"

"Speaking of which, why wasn't the aviary on tour?" Shadow asked.

"We had a problem setting it up. Originally the park was intended to have a treetop lodge, built high above the ground, where the visitors could watch the pterodactyls at flight level. We got four dactyls in there right now; actually they are cearadactyls, fish eaters. Big ones."

"And?"

"Well, when we finished the lodge, we put the dactyls in the aviary, so they could get used to it. But that was a big mistake, it turns out they are territorial." Omega said.

"Territorial? You got to be kidding."

"I wish I was." Omega said, "They fight among themselves for territory, and they attack any animal that comes into their territory that they have marked out.

"Attack?"

"It's quite interesting actually." Omega explained, "They sit at the top of the aviary, fold their wings and dive. A thirty pound animal, that strikes a man and makes it feel like a ton of bricks. They kept knocking workman out, and cutting them up pretty badly."

"And it doesn't hurt them?"

"So far…..No."

"So if the kids and Grant-by slight chance- are in the aviary….."Shadow said slowly.

"They're not," Omega said, "At least I hope anyway."

* * *

><p>"Eww what a dump," Cream said.<p>

"Beneath the aviary dome, Pteratops Lodge was built high above the ground, on big metal pylons, in the middle of a group of fir trees. But the building was unfinished, and unpainted. The windows were boarded up. The trees and lodge were splattered with white streaks.

"I guess they didn't finish it." Sonic said quietly, trying to hide his disappointment. He turned around, "Let's head back to the boat kids."

The sun had come out, making the air around them cheerful and warm. Sonic noticed the ground and the foliage were splattered by the same white chalky substance that had been on the building. There was also a sour odor in the air.

"It stinks here." Tails said.

"What is that white stuff?" Cream asked.

"I think its droppings," Sonic smirked, "Probably from the birds."

"How come they didn't finish the lodge Dr. Grant?"

"I wish I knew Cream."

They walked into a clearing of grass and wildflowers. There was a long, low whistle. There was an answering whistle from across the clearing in the forest.

Cream grabbed his arm, "What was that?"

"I don't know."

Then Sonic saw it, a dark shadow, like a cloud on the grassy field. The shadow was swift, in moments, it had swept over them. He looked quickly up and saw and enormous shape gliding above them, blotting out the bright sun.

"Wow!" Cream gasped, "Is that a pterodactyl?"

"Yes," Tails said.

Sonic didn't say anything. He watched amazed by the sight of the huge flying animal. Above them, the animal let out a low whistle and looped back around towards them.

"How come they weren't on the tour?" Tails asked.

Sonic started to wonder the same thing. The flying dinosaurs were so amazing, graceful as they moved through the air. Sonic watched as another dactyl appeared then a third and a fourth.

Sonic noticed these weren't any ordinary dactyls. They were too big. They must be cearadactyls, big flying reptiles that ate fish. When high up they looked like small airplanes, but when lower, Sonic could make out their fifteen foot wide wingspan.

"Can they hurt us?" Cream asked.

"No I don't think so," Sonic said, "They eat fish."

One of the dactyls dived down and whooshed past them, leaving a sour odor.

"Yikes, they are really really big." Cream gulped, "You sure they can't hurt us?"

"Pretty sure."

Another dactyl came down, much faster than the first. It came from behind them, streaking past their heads. Sonic caught a glimpse of a toothy beak and a furry body. It looked like a huge bat. But it was frail, the pink membrane stretched across its wingspan, so thin it was transparent.

"Augh!" Cream cried out brushing past her blonde hair and touching an ear, "It bit me!" (**A.N. Yes I am giving her hair for this. Please don't bash**.)

"What?"

"It bit me! The stupid thing bit me!" Cream yelled. When Cream took her hand away from her ear, there was blood on her fingers. Sonic suddenly had a bad feeling for what seemed like the third time this weekend.

Up in the sky two more dactyls dived together, folding their wings as they dived towards the ground. They made a screaming sound as they hurtled downward.

"Come on!" Sonic said, he grabbed the kids hands. The ran across the meadow, hearing the scream approaching he flung himself down onto the ground at the last moment, taking the kids with him. The twp dactyls whistled and shrieked as the swooshed past. Sonic felt claws tearing the back of his shirt.

He was up again, pulling Cream and Tails to their feet running a few feet forward while to more animals dived down, screaming. At the last moment, he pushed the kids to the ground and the animals flew past.

"Ew." Cream groaned. He saw that she was streaked with white droppings from the birds.

Sonic scrambled up, "Come on!"

He shoved Cream forward and turned to help Tails up, when Cream shrieked in terror. He turned back to see one of the dactyls lunged for her shoulders. He scooped up a rock and chucked it at the animal. It made its mark on the side of the animal's head. The dactyl shrieked in rage and flew away.

Tails yelled suddenly and Sonic whipped around. Another dactyl had its claws gripping Tails's shoulders. It was trying to take off, but Tails was too heavy, and it struggled to get air, while it repeatedly japed its long pointed beak at Tails's head.

"Tails!" Cream screamed, she was waving her arms frantically. Sonic looked around desperately, but there were no rocks. So he did the only thing he could think of doing. He dashed forward and jumped up, throwing himself against the body of the dactyl. He knocked it onto its back landing hard on the ground; he fell onto of the furry body. The animal screamed and snapped; Sonic ducked his head away and pushed back, and the giant wings beat around him. It was liked being in a tent….And being caught in a windstorm at the same time. He couldn't see, he could barely hear; nothing but the flapping and shrieking. The clawed legs scratched frantically at his chest, tearing his shirt, Tails was shouting, and Cream was screaming. Sonic pushed painfully away from the dactyl, and it squeaked and gibbered as it flapped its wings and struggle to turn over. It righted itself, pulled its wings in and lifted itself up on little wing claws, and began to walk away. He stared, amazed.

It could walk on its wings! But now the other dactyls were diving to them, Sonic tried to stand but he fell over dizzy, off balance he looked over in horror to see Cream run away, her arms were covering her head…..Tails was shouting something at the top of his lungs.

The first swooped down and the rabbit threw something and suddenly the animal was going up. The other three followed. Sonic looked up, wondering what had happened. The three dactyls chased the first, screaming angrily.

Everything was calm, they were along in the field.

"What happened?" Sonic asked.

"They got my glove," Cream growled. "My special baseball glove."

They started to walk again, Tails wrapped her arm around Cream's shoulder, "Are you alright?"

She shook him off, "Of course I am." She looked at the sky, "I hope they choke on it and die."

Tails nodded, "Yeah me too."

"For once," Sonic said. "I almost agree with you."

Up ahead, they saw the boat on the shore. Sonic looked at his watch. It was eight-thirty. Two and a half hours left to get back.

Cream did a little cheer as they left the aviary. The banks were only about ten feet wide and the current was flowing very fast. Tails and Cream laughed as they reached up and touched the low tree branches.

Sonic sat back grateful for the previous event to be over. He listened to the gurgle of the water on the warm rubber. They were moving much faster now, the trees slipping by rapidly. It was pleasant. It gave a little breeze. And it meant they would get back to the lodge that much sooner.

He wasn't sure how they had come, but it had to be several miles at least. Perhaps four or five. Maybe more, that meant they might only an hour's walk away from the lodge once they leave the raft. But after the aviary…Sonic was in no rush…Even if that meant staying on the water a little longer. Everything was peaceful for the moment and they were making good time.

"Dr. Grant?"

"Hmmm,?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah Tails ask away." Sonic said.

Tails leaned back in the raft, "Last night when we saw the stego, you were asking Dr. Wu if they used frog DNA to complete the dinosaurs. Why?"

"Because it probably explains why the dinosaurs were breeding."

"I thought they were all female, how can they?" Tails asked.

Sonic thought for a moment, trying to find a way to explain, "Well, many animals can produce offspring without…_mating….._Frogs are an example of that. Certain frogs can change their gender, if a male frog is in an environment with too little females, it will slowly adapt its body to female. And during the process it also produces offspring."

"But what does that have to do with the dinosaurs?" Tails asked.

There was a sudden shriek of animals from the trees above. The trio immediately looked left. The branches shook and the microceratops scattered in terror. The huge head of the tyrannosaur burst through the foliage, roaring and snapping its large jaws. Tails and Cream screamed in fright. Sonic paddled to the other side of the river. But what could he do? The banks were only ten feet apart from one another. They watched in horror as the tyrannosaur thrashed about and roared in fury. But it couldn't get to them, it was stuck in the thick growth. It pulled its head back growling.

Through the thick trees they could see the shadow of the body, moving north, trying to find a gap in the trees. The trio watched helplessly as it tried to break through again. But like the first time, the foliage was too thick, it couldn't get through. It pulled back, moved farther ahead and tried a third time, thrashing and roaring wildly.

For a third time it failed.

It looked at them, a cold look in its small eyes. It pulled back, disappearing behind the trees, and moved on, its stomps fading in the distance.

"Yeesh I hate him," Cream hissed. Tails nodded in agreement.

Sonic fell back on the raft he was badly shaken. Chaos if that animal had gotten through…He shook the thought away, it didn't happen, they were fine. But still….What if it tried again…

He glanced at his watch, it was almost nine.

"Hey," Tails said, "Do you hear that?"

There was snarling, followed by hooting. The sounds were coming from farther down the river, around a curve. He listened again, and there was more hooting.

"What is it?" Cream asked.

"I'm not sure." Sonic said slowly. "But it sounds like there is more than one." He paddled the boat to the edge of the stream, reaching up he grabbed a branch and slowed the raft to a stop. The snarling had repeated itself, followed by more hooting.

"It sounds like owls." Tails said.

**_Okay. Thanks for reading, I_****_ hope you enjoyed this chapter with the wonderful flying dinosaurs._**

**_For those of you who at the slightest chance may be confused on my I switch back adn forth between first names and last name. It is beacuse I am using it for different views. Say for example I wanted it more from Tails perspective than Sonic's, being a child he would be polite and use the adults 'last' names. While if I used Sonic's Shadow's or one of the other adults, it would be first names, unless they were mad, being polite, or speaking to their higher ups. If you haven't noticed I have rarely used Big's first name, just his last. Because him being in charge, and in control, everyone tries to be polite and use his last name instead._**

**_Again, thank you for reading, hope you enjoy. And I will try to keep updating for you._**


	18. Oh My!

**I****'d like to thank you all for reading this far into my story. I hope you have been able to bear through me grammar errors and numerous other writing problems. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it was fun to write. Thanks a lot- Sincerely Silversilence **

* * *

><p><strong>Dilophosaurs Tyrannosaurs and Waterfalls Oh My!<strong>

Shadow winced, "Isn't time for more morphine?" He groaned.

"Not yet I'm afraid." Shelly said quietly.

There was silence for a moment, and then, "How much water do we have here?"

"We have plenty of running water from the tap-"

"No, no, I mean how much do we have stored?"

Shelly shrugged," None, as far as I know."

"Go to all the rooms on this floor," Shadow said, "And fill the bathtubs with water."

"Ummm," Shelly frowned.

"Also, do we have walkie-talkies? Flashlights? Matches" Portable mini stoves?"

"What are you planning for a natural disaster?"

"Something like that."

"I guess I can look around." Shelly said slowly, "Are you sure?"

Shadow nodded, "Yes, the Malcolm Effect implies catastrophic changes."

"But Omega just said earlier that all the systems were working fine,"

"But that's the thing!" Shadow said, frustrated, "That's when it happens!"

"You really don't believe him do you? Or like him very much for that matter." Shelly asked.

Shadow sighed, "He is alright. He's an engineer. Wu's the same way. They are both technicians. But they don't have intelligence; they have what I call 'thintelligence'. They think narrowly, say their focused, and don't look outside the box. That, that right there, is why we have islands like this. Because you cannot create an animal and expect it not to be _alive. _To be unpredictable, to escape this place. But they can't seem to see that, they probably never will, even if I had a gun pointed at their heads and was screaming it at them."

"Can you even shoot a gun?" Shelly asked.

"Quite well actually."

"Oh….." She tugged on a bang, "So your saying that this whole thing is human nature? Is that what you are trying to say?"

"Chaos no," Shadow frowned, "That's practically saying that making scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast is human nature." He winced, "Bloody morphine, it's making me philosophical."

"Need some water?" Shelly asked.

"No," Shadow said, " I swear though mankind treats everything like machines and trash. If you can't fit in with the flow you're in trouble….."

"Well, don't you think you are overstating-"

"What does one of your excavation sites look like when you are done digging?" Like let's say a year later."

"Pretty bad," she admitted.

Shadow stared at the mongoose with stern eyes, "You don't replant do you? You don't restore the land after the dig?"

"No,"

"Why not?

She shrugged, "There is no money, I guess…."

"There is enough money to dig, but not repair?"

"Well, we're just working in the badlands so…"

"'Just' the badlands," Shadow echoed, he shook his head, "Just trash. Just side effects. I'm trying to tell you that scientists want it this way. They want trash, scars, and side effects."

"Then how do you fix the problem?"

"Get rid of the thintelligence ones, take them out of power."

"Then we lose all advances-"

"What advances! Think about it! Back in the 1930's remember all the hours the women of the house devoted themselves to just to keep their home clean? Nothing has changed, even with all the vacuums and dusters and garbage disposals. How long does it take to clean a house?" Shadow said.

Shelly remained silent.

"There have been no advances," Shadow said, sighing, "The humans when they were cavemen, worked twenty hours a week to provide themselves with food and shelter. The rest of the time, they could do what they wanted; they lived in fresh air and a clean world. Thirty thousand years ago….."

"So you want to turn back the clock?" Shelly asked.

"No," Shadow said quietly, "I just want humans and anthros to wake up. I've seen what this world is. We have had four hundred years of modern science, we should know by now….What it is good for and what it isn't. Things need to change."

"Before we destroy the planet?" she asked.

"Chaos no," he said, he leaned back and closed his eyes. "That's the _last _thing I worry about."

* * *

><p>In a the tunnel of the jungle river, Sonic went hand over hand, grabbing onto branches, moving the raft cautiously down river. He could still hear the sounds. And finally he saw the dinosaurs.<p>

"Aren't those the ones with poison?"

"Yes," Sonic said slowly. "_Dilophosaurus."_

_Haha aren't you lucky. More carnivores. Every dinosaur you seem to be meeting today tries to eat you, trample you, or stab you to death with a long pointy toothy beaks,, only this one will spit poison at you first. _The voice was back.

Standing on the riverbank were two dilophosaurs. The ten-foot-tall bodies were spotted yellow and black, the bellies were green. Twin red curved crests ran along the top of the head, running from the eyes to the nose, making a V shape above the head.

Cream shifted nervously, "Should we get out and walk?"

Sonic shook his head. The carnivores were smaller than the rex; they could easily break through the foliage. And they seemed pretty quick too, the bended over to drink from the river, then rising to snarl and hoot.

_You have a problem._

"But we can't get past them in the boat!" Cream whispered, "Their poison!"

"We have to try somehow," Sonic said encouragingly.

The animals seemed to be interacting with one another, in a repetitive way. The one on the left would bend over to drink, and then hoot. The animal on the right would hoot in reply then bend to drink.

_Wait a minute._

Sonic looked closer, he noticed the one on the right was smaller, with smaller spots and a duller red on its crests-

"Omi-gosh, it's a mating ritual." He gasped.

"But how are we gonna get past them," Tails said, "That's the important thing."

"Not the way they are now, they are by the river's edge too," Sonic said, "Some animals perform mating rituals for hours at a time, staying in the same place, not paying attention to anything else." He glanced at his watch nine-thirty.

"Well what are we gonna go?" Tails asked.

"I don't know,"

Sonic sat down on the raft right as the dilophosaurs began hooting and roaring over and over again. They seemed agitated; he looked up to see they had their backs to the river.

"What's happening?" Tails asked.

Sonic stared for a moment, and then he couldn't help but smirk, "I think we are finally going to get some help." He pushed the boat away from the bank, "Okay kids, I want you to lie down flat on the raft. We'll go past as fast as we can, but no matter what happens don't move, and don't say anything. Okay?"

The raft began to drift downstream, towards the carnivores. It started to gain speed. Cream lay near Sonic's feet, she looked up at him, frightened. They were closer to the dilophosaurs now. The animals were still turned away from the bank. Sonic pulled out the air pistol, and checked the chamber.

The raft moved on, and a familiar odor filled the air. Sweet and nauseating, like the rex, only it smelled more like vomit. The hooting was louder now; Sonic crouched down, peeking past over the edge of the raft. The raft moved around the final bend and Sonic let out a sharp breath. The dilophosaurs were only a few feet away, honking at the trees. And it was exactly as Sonic had suspected.

They were hooting at the tyrannosaur.

The tyrannosaur was trying to break through the foliage, and the dilos hooted and stomped their feet in anger. The raft drifted by, the smell was nauseating. The tyrannosaur looked directly at Sonic, their eyes meeting for a split second. The tyrannosaur had a look of cold fury and Sonic responded silently with a glare of his own. The rex roared in fury as the raft drifted on. But in another moment…

Thump.

The raft had stopped moving. They were aground, against the river bank, just a few feet from the dilos.

"Oh great," Cream whispered.

The boat dragged with a long low scraping sound across the mud. Then the raft was moving again. They were going down the river. The tyrannosaur roared a final time and pulled back, moving off. One dilophosaur looked surprised, it hooted, the other hooted in reply.

And the raft, floated on down the river.

* * *

><p><em>Well here is something I did today. I went Tyrannosaurus rex hunting.<em>

The jeep bounced along, the hot sun beating down on them. Silver was driving, with Knuckles at his side and Mighty in the back seat. They came to a rise in a open field about a hundred yards from the dense lush forest that lined the jungle river. Reaching the top of the rise, Silver stopped the car.

"Chaos its hot out," Knuckles growled, he took a swig of beer and offered it to Mighty. The red and yellow armadillo just shook his head. He looked out onto the shimmering landscape, mirages forming by the morning heat. Nothing was out there, nothing but illusions. He looked down at the dashboard of the car. In the monitor on the dashboard showed video screens from the video cameras all over the park. Still no sign of Grant of the kids-if they were alive that is- and no sign of the tyrannosaur.

The radio buzzed, "Silver you there?"

Silver picked up the radio, "Yeah Omega?"

"I found the rex, he's in sector 542 going to 543.

"Give me a sec," Knuckles said, adjusting the monitor, "Yep, I got him now. He's following the river." The animal was slinking along the foliage that lined the banks of the river, heading north.

"Take it easy with him, just tranquilize." Omega said.

"Don't worry I won't hurt him." Knuckles replied.

" Remember, the rex is our biggest tourist attraction."

Knuckles turned off the radio with a growl, "Bloody fool, still thinking about the tourists." He looked at Silver, "Let's give old Rexy a dose shall we?"

The Jeep took off across the terrain.

"Are you looking forward to this," Mighty asked.

"Oh I've wanted to stick a needle in him for awhile," Knuckles smirked, "And there he is."

The jeep lurched to a stop. Directly ahead, Mighty could make out the t-rex moving among the foliage.

Knuckles drained his beer and threw it back towards the trunk, narrowly missing Mighty. He reached back for his tubing, "You wanna help? Open these canisters."

Mighty bent down and opened a stainless-steel case. It was padded with foam, four cylinders, each the size of a quart milk bottle was nestled inside the foam. They were labeled MORO-709. He took one of them out.

"You snap off the tip and screw on a needle. That's the plunger, compress on impact." Knuckles explained.

Mighty finished and handed the canister to Knuckles, "What's MORO-709?"

"Standard animal trank," Knuckles said as he loaded the rifle, which looked more like a rocket launcher.

Silver drove the Jeep closer to the rex, "I think that is as close as we're gonna get," he said. The Jeep stopped about fifty yards from the tyrannosaur."

Knuckled slipped out of the car and walked about ten yard away from the vehicle. Silver looked back at Mighty, "This might be a good time to put on your seatbelt."

Knuckles crouched in the grass, and lifted the heavy gun over his shoulder. He flipped up the thick aiming lens and aimed. The tyrannosaur paid no notice to the three. There was a puff of paled smoke and white streak zoomed through the air towards the tyrannosaur. But nothing happened.

The tyrannosaur pulled its head out of the trees and looked over curiously, inspecting them with each eye.

Knuckles took down the gun and quickly started to load the second canisiter.

"Did you hit him"

Knuckles shook his head, "No, damn laser sights are dead, are there any batteries in the car?" Silver opened a compartment, "No, there is none."

The radio crackled, "Silver, this is Omega, get out of there."

"I know what I'm doing," Knuckles snapped.

The tyrannosaur roared. Mighty paled, it was terrifying. Was this the last thing the kids heard before…The tyrannosaur charged.

Knuckles stood his ground and fired another shot. But again nothing happened and the tyrannosaur kept coming.

_Now _Knuckles was running, "Go go go!" Silver put the Jeep into gear, and Knuckles dived onto the passenger door as the Jeep lurched forward. The tyrannosaur was closing in. Knuckles opened the door and fell inside the vehicle.

"Go damn it go!"

Silver floored it. The Jeep bounced violently across the ground, the front end of the car went up so for only a moment they only saw sky, then came crashing back down and moved forward again. Silver wrenched on the wheel and headed for a patch of trees to the right. Until suddenly, in the review mirror he saw the rex roar a final time and turn away.

"Chaos that was close," Mighty gasped.

Knuckles looked out the window, shaking his head, "I could have sworn I hit him the second time."

"I'm pretty sure you missed," Mighty said.

"The needle could have broken before it hit," Silver suggested.

"Admit it, you missed."

Knuckles sighed, "Yeah I missed. It's my own fault, should have checked the laser sightings. Let's head back to get more canisters.

Silver picked up the radio as the car headed north, towards the hotel, "Control?"

"Yes," Omega said.

"We're on our way back."

* * *

><p>"Eew, my face feels slimy." Cream said. She had touched her cheek, what had been a former white smear from-bird droppings- had mixed with water and become white slim.<p>

Dr. Grant smirked, "Hold on give me a second." He slipped of one of his gloves and dipped it into the cold river water. He pulled it out, and leaned over to the rabbit, "Stay still." He rubbed the glove gently against her cheek until the smear was gone. "There that better?"

Cream touched her cheek and grinned, "Yep. Thanks Dr. Grant!"

Dr. Grant nodded and dipped his glove back into the water, cleaning it off.

The river was narrow now. Its current seemed to be getting stronger, for the boat kept going faster and faster. It felt sort of like a ride.

"Whee!" Cream cheered from the end of the raft, "Faster! Faster!"

Dr. Grant grinned and looked ahead, he squinted. The river was still narrow and dark, but farther ahead he could see that the trees ended and the sun was shining, there was a distant roaring sound. The river seemed to end in a peculiar straight line…..

Grant's grin vanished.

The raft was going faster and was rushing forward.

Grant reached for the paddles.

"What is going on?" Cream asked.

"Wake your brother."

Cream nodded a shook Tails who was taking a short nap. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, "Hmm, what is it?"

"Waterfall," Grant said. The kids paled.

The raft rushed out of the darkness of the foliage into the bright morning light. The raft raced forward towards the lip of the waterfall. The roar was starting to get deafening. Grant was paddling strongly, but only succeeded in spinning the boat in circles.

Cream leaned against him, "But I can't swim!" Grant looked down, and noticed that her life jacket wasn't clasped. But there was nothing he could do, the raft, with frightening speed came over the edge, the roar of the waterfall drowned out everything. Grant desperately jammed his oar deep into the water, he felt it catch hold, right at the lip. The rat shook in the current but did not go over. Grant strained against the oar and, looking over the edge, saw a sheer drop of at least sixty feet to a swirling pool below.

And standing in the surging pool, waiting for them, was the tyrannosaur.

Tails and Cream both screamed in panic. The boat spun, and the rear end dropped away, spilling the passengers out into air and towards the water below, the fall was sickening. Grant flailed his arms in the air, and the world suddenly became slow.

It seemed like an eternity, falling like this.

Sonic had time to observe Cream, she was clutching her orange life-jacket, falling along next to him. She was pale, and screaming his name. He tried reaching for her, but she was too far away. He had time to observe Tails falling from above them, looking down at the bottom, he had time to observe the bubbling pool beneath him as he fell slowly towards it.

Then with a stinging slap, everything was fast again. He plunged under the cold water, his body screaming in pain. He went to cry out, but his mouth filled with water. He was blind, surround by a cloud of bubbles. He tumbled and spun, there was a glimpse of the tyrannosaur leg as he swirled past, swept through the pool and out to the stream beyond. He burst out of the water, choking and gasping for air. Sonic swam towards the river's edge; he clutched onto some rocks but slipped and went under again. He felt panic start to overwhelm him. He couldn't drown, chaos, he couldn't, the kids. He came back up and grabbed hold of a branch. He finally dragged himself onto land, coughing and spitting up water. He looked back to see the raft tumble by. Then he saw Tails, battling the current. Sonic reached out and pulled the boy in, he was coughing and cold, but alive. Sonic pulled him up next to him onto the shore.

Sonic turned back to the waterfall; he saw the tyrannosaur plunge its head straight into the water, thrashing about. It must have had something in his teeth.

The tyrannosaur came back up again.

Dangling from his jaws was Cream's orange life vest.

"Cream!" Tails screamed, "Cream!" He buried his face in his hands, "No no, not my sister."

"Tails look!" Sonic pointed. Cream had appeared behind the tyrannosaur's tail. She was not moving, and face down in the water. She sank under cover by the swirling current.

Sonic didn't blink. He dived in after her.

He instantly was blinded by the current's swirl of bubbles. It pushed and shoved him every which way. His back slammed against a rock and he gasped out in pain, only to lose air in a burst of bubbles. He winced in pain but swam on. He had to find Cream, chaos she couldn't die here. She was so young, so full of life.

Sonic was now in desperate need of air. He'd drown if he didn't, but if he did, he might lose Cream. He spread his arms out, swinging them to and fro, trying to feel for her. Black spots invaded his vision; he was dizzy, and fighting for consciousness. It was starting to seem hopeless now.

Wait! He grabbed onto something, it was soft and about the width of an arm. He pulled it in and saw orange fur. Cream! He pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her. He put his feet against the bottom of the river and shoved up.

They came up to the surface, just a few yards from Tails. "Dr. Grant! Cream!" he cried, his voice almost lost by the roar of the waterfall. Sonic dragged himself and the girl onto shore as Tails ran up. Cream was grey and lifeless water pouring from her mouth.

Sonic leaned over to do mouth to mouth but she coughed. She vomited a bunch of liquid and coughed again. He eyelids fluttered open and she smiled, a weak one, but a smile none the less. "Hi," she said, "We made it." Tails started to cry.

He felt and rush of relief, Sonic pulled her into a hug, rubbing her arms, "Yeesh kiddo, you gave us a scare." Cream looked up at Tails.

"Why are you crying?" she asked.

"Because," Tails sniffed.

"Because why?"

"Because I was afraid I might lose my sister that's why," Tails said.

"You had us worried." Sonic said. Small flecks of white were starting to swirl down the stream. Sonic looked up the river to see the tyrannosaur still tearing at the life vest. It was turned away from them, but any minute it would turn around and see them…. "Come on kids." He said.

"Where are we going?" Cream coughed.

"Trying to find a place to hide," He stood up, still holding Cream. He looked around. Downstream there was nothing but grassy plains, no protection what so ever. And upstream was the dinosaur. But then he saw it, a narrow dirt path leading up the river. It seemed to lead towards the waterfall.

In the dirt was a clear imprint of a shoe. Leading up the path.

The tyrannosaur had finally turned around, looking towards the plains. It seemed to have realized that its prey had gotten away. It was looking for them down stream. Sonic –carrying Cream- and Tails ducked among the ferns. Cautiously, Sonic led them upstream.

"Why are we going back?" Cream asked.

**Rex, give Sonic and the kids a break would you? Yeesh.**

**Well I hope you enjoyed this thrilling chapter of Sonic Jurassic Park! Till I post again!**

**-S.S.**


	19. The Final Domino

**The Final Domino**

_"We're going back!"_

Sonic frowned, "I know."

"But why?" Cream whimpered, "The Rex is up there!"

They were closer to the waterfall now, the roar was much louder. The rocks were slippery, and the path muddy, Sonic tightened his grip on Tails's hand. There was a constant mist hanging over the path, it was like walking in a cloud. The path seemed to lead straight into the rushing water, but as they came closer, it revealed that it actually went _behind _the waterfall. Sonic let out a slow breath of relief, his suspicion had been right. However, they weren't out of this just yet.

The tyrannosaur was still looking downstream, back turned to the trio. They hurried along the path to the waterfall. But just as they were almost behind the sheet of shimmery water, Sonic noticed the tyrannosaur turn. The next thing he knew they were completely behind the waterfall and Sonic could see the Rex no longer through the silver sheet.

Grant looked around in surprised at the contents of the area around him. There was a little recess here, hardly larger than a closet, and filled mostly with machinery, humming pumps, and big filter pipes. Everything was wet, slimy, and cold.

"Did he see us?" Tails asked, he practically had to shout over the roar of the waterfall. "Where are we? What is this place? Did he see us? Did the Rex see us?"

"I don't know to all of those questions," Sonic replied, setting Cream down, "Now just a minute." He scanned the equipment. This was clearly park machinery. In addition, there must be electricity to run it, so perhaps there was also a telephone nearby. He poked among the filters and pipes.

"What are you doing?" Cream shouted.

"Looking for a telephone," It was nearly 10:00 a.m. They had just a little more than an hour to contact the ship and catch the raptors before it reached the mainland.

In the back of the recess, he found a metal door marked MAINT 04, but it was firmly locked. Next to it was a slot for a security card. Which he did not have. Alongside the door, he saw a row of metal boxes. He opened the boxes one after the other, in hopes of a card or a phone, but they contained only switches and timers. No telephone and nothing to open the door.

He almost missed the box to the left of the door. On opening it, he discovered a nine-button keypad, covered with spots of green mold. But it looked as if it was a way to open the door, and he had a strong feeling that on the other side of the door was a phone. Scratched upon the metal of the box was the number 1023. So he punched it in.

With a hiss and a slow groan of gears, the door came open. Nothing but gaping darkness beyond, and concrete steps leading down. On the back wall he saw stenciled MAINT VEHICLE 04/22 CHARGER and an arrow point down the stairs. He couldn't help but feel a spark of hope, could it really be a car? A car would be just as good as a telephone. "Come on kids."

"No," Cream said.

Sonic turned to the girl, "What?"

"Come on Cream," Tails urged.

"No, forget it," Cream whimpered, "There are no lights or anything. I'm not going."

Sonic tilted his head sympathetically, "I'll find a light," he turned and stepped for the door. "Hold on, I'll be right back."

"Wait!" Cream said, "Where are you going?" she cried suddenly alarmed. She grabbed onto his hand, her delicate fingers shaking.

"Just to turn on a light,." Sonic encouraged.

She whimpered and buried her face into his arm, "Don't go,"

"Cream I need to turn on the light." When the rabbit did not respond, Sonic kneeled down and lifted her chin. "Cream.."

She looked about ready to cry, "But what if you don't come back, what if you leave us. Like Mr. Regis."

Sonic blinked shocked, before smiling tenderly, "Oh Cream, I would never do that. I am never going to leave you behind, _ever_. I will always come back for you," he hugged her, "Don't worry I'll be back before you know it. I promise."

She sniffed then nodded, holding tightly onto him, "Okay," she leaned in, "Be careful Dr. Grant," she whispered, before kissing his cheek and letting go.

"I will," Sonic smiled, ruffling her hair and stepping beyond the door. "Tails, keep an eye out for-"

There was an electronic bee, and the door swung in, Sonic whipped around, his hands slapping against the cold metal as it slammed shut.

Sonic was plunged into complete darkness. The children's voices were faintly heard from the other side of the door, calling his name. After a moment of shock, he took a deep breath and ran his hand along the cool metal. There was no knob, no latch. He turned to the walls on either side on the door, feeling for a switch, a control box, anything at all…

There was nothing.

He was beginning to fight panic down when his finger closed over a cold metal cylinder. He ran his hands over the swelling edge, a flat surface…a flashlight! He clicked it on, the beam surprisingly bright. He turned back to the door, now able to see, but sighed in frustration as it was clearly visible he could not open the door from this side. He would have to wait for the kids to unlock it. Meantime…

He started down the steps. They were damp and slippery with mold. He went down carefully, not wanting to slip and fall down the undetermined length of stairs. Falling off a water fall was enough falling for him for one day, or the rest of his life for that matter. The darkness beyond the flashlights beam was unnerving. His nerves were at its wits end when a sniffing and the sound of claws scratching against concrete was heard. He froze as the sound came again.

His heart was pounding as he ever so slowly, slipped out the dart gun; he checked the chamber, before proceeding cautiously.

The steps bent around a corner and expanded out widely enough for about four people to pass through, and as he shone his light, and odd reflection glinted back, and after a moment, he saw it: a car! It was an electric car, looking somewhat similar to a golf cart, and it faced a tunnel that seemed to go away for miles. A bright red light illuminated beside the steering wheel, so perhaps it was charged. His face lit up, things finally seemed to work out.

His victory was short lived however, as the sniffing was heard again, from behind him! He wheeled around, and saw a pale shape rise up toward him, leaping through the air, jaws open, he cried out, and without thinking, Sonic fired. The animal landed on him and he screamed as it knocked him down the last few steps, he winced in pain and rolled away in fright. His flashlight swinging wildly, he scrambled up and whipped around. But the animal did not get up, and he felt foolish as his beam settled down on it.

It was a velociraptor, but it was very young, less than a year old. It was about two feet tall, the size of a medium dog, and it lay on the ground, breathing shallowly, the dart sticking from beneath its jaw. There was probably too much anesthetic for its body weight, and Grant swiftly pulled the dart out quickly. The velociraptor look at him with slightly glazed eyes.

Grant has a clear feeling of intelligence from this creature, a kind of softness which contrasted strangely with the menace he had felt from the adults in the pen. He stroked the head of the creature, in hopes of calming it down. He looked down at the body, which was shivering slightly as the tranquilizer took hold. And then he saw, it was male.

A young juvenile and a male. There was no question what he was seeing. This velociraptor had been bred in the wild.

Excited by this development, he hurried back up the stairs to the door. With his flashlight, he scanned the flat, featureless surface of the door, and it slowly dawned him that he was locked inside, and unable to open it, unless the kids and the presence of mind to open it for him. But Tails and Cream were smart children, they would either get worried and come down eventually or grow impatient. He could hear them, faintly them, faintly, on the other side of the door.

He started to pound on the metal, hoping the children would hear…

* * *

><p>"Dr. Grant!" Cream shouted into the door, "Dr. Grant!"<p>

"Relax Cream," Tails soothed, "He'll be back,"

"But where did he go?"

"Listen, Dr. Grant knows what he's doing," Tails said, "He'll be back in a minute. He promised remember?"

"Yeah, but I want him back now," Cream whimpered, she rubbed her arms, shivering and kicked a metal box with a sad huff.

And then with a roar, the tyrannosaur's head burst through the waterfall toward them.

Tails stared in horror as the massive mouth gaped wide. Cream shrieked and threw herself on the ground. The head swung back and forth, and pulled out again. But Tails could see the shadow of the animal's head on the sheet of falling water.

He pulled Cream deeper into the recess, just as the jaws burst through again, roaring, the tongue flicking in and out rapidly. The children screamed as water sprayed in every direction from the head. Then it pulled out again.

Cream huddled next to her brother, shivering, "I _hate him," _she said. She huddle back, but the recess was only a few feet deep, and crammed pack with machinery. There was no place for them to hide. They were trapped.

Tails reached for the control panel Dr. Grant had used earlier, maybe if he could open it, they could get inside.

The head came back through the water and Tails dropped back down. The head moved in slowly, unlike the previous attempts, and the jaw came to rest on the ground. The tyrannosaur snorted, flaring its nostrils, breathing the air. But the eyes were still outside the sheet of water.

Tails gulped: He can't see us, he thought: He knows we're in here, but he can't see through the water.

The tyrannosaur sniffed.

"What is he doing?" Cream asked.

"Sshhhh."

With a low growl, the jaws slowly opened, and the tongue snaked out. It was thick and blue-black, with a little forked indentation at the tip. It was four feet long and easily reached back to the far wall of the recess. The tongue slid with a rasping scrape over the filter cylinders. Tails and Cream pressed back against the pipes, shaking in fear.

The tongue moved slowly to the left, then to the right, slapping wetly against the machinery. The tip curled around the pipes and valves, sensing them. Tails saw that the tongue had muscular movements, like that of an elephant's trunk. The tongue drew back along the right side of the recess. It dragged against Cream's legs.

"Ewww," Cream whispered.

The tongue stopped. It curled, then began to rise like a snake up the side of her body-

"_Don't move," _Tails whispered.

….past her face, then up along Tails's shoulder, and finally wrapping around his head. Tails squeezed his eyes shut as the slimy muscle covered his face. It was hot and wet, and it stunk of dead meat and urine.

Wrapped around him, the tongue began to drag him, very slowly, toward the open jaws.

"Tails….."

Tails couldn't answer, his mouth was cover by the disgusting flat black tongue. He could see, but he couldn't talk. Cream reached up and tugged on his hand.

"Come on, Tails!"

The tongue dragged him towards the snorting mouth of the beast. He felt the hot panting breath on his legs. Cream was pulling harder now, but she was no match for the muscular strength of the rex. Tails let go of her hand and pressed both of his hands against the tongue, trying to shove it over his head. He couldn't move it. He dug his heels into the muddy ground, but he was dragged forward anyway.

Cream was frantic now. She had wrapped her arms around his waist and was pulling backward with all she had. She was shouting to him, but he was powerless to do anything. He was beginning to see stars. A kind of peacefulness overcame him, a sense of peaceful inevitability as he was dragged along. Did everyone feel like this, just before death?

"Tails?"

And then suddenly the tongue relaxed, and uncoiled. Tails felt it slipping off his face. His body covered in disgusting white foamy slime, and the tongue fell limply to the ground. The jaws slapped shut, biting down on the tongue. Dark blood gushed out everywhere, mixing with the mud. The nostrils still snorted in ragged breaths.

"What he doing?" Cream cried.

Then slowly, very slowly, the head began to slide backward, out of the recess, leaving a long scrape in the mud. And finally, it disappeared entirely, and they could see on the silver sheet of falling water.

* * *

><p>"Are you worried?"<p>

Shelly looked up in surprise, staring at Silver with confusion, "Excuse me?"

Silver gestured to the door, "Are you worried about him? Grant and the kids?"

"Oh," Shelly sighed, "Sure I am. But I know Sonic, he's going to be doing everything he can to get him and the kids back. He's smart, they'll be fine." She smiled, "There was this one time, his truck fell down a ravine in the Badlands, he survived of course, but his leg was broken and he had no food or water. He walked back though, it took him six days, but he walked all the way back to camp with a broken leg."

"But this isn't the Badlands," Silver sighed,

"Oh I know that," Shelly looked off, "But I have confidence in him. I'm more worried about Malcolm at the moment however,"

The two glanced over at the said black hedgehog. Malcolm was sleeping trying to save energy, but the pain was very clear. "I'm afraid what will happen if we don't get help soon," Shelly sighed.

"Omega has the park up and running," Silver encouraged, "We'll have him at a hospital in no time at all. And I bet, we'll even find Grant and the kids soon too,"

Shelly smiled, glancing out the window, "Yes I –" she stopped her smile slipping away. Silver looked at her, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes it's just…" She stared out, looking at the dark trees beyond the wrought steel fence that surrounded the lodge, "You know what, it was nothing. Thought I saw something outside that's all." She smiled at Silver, "But you're right, everything is going to alright."

Silver grinned, "I'm going to get the morphine, time for another dose I think." He stood and walked away.

Shelly's smiled dropped as he walked away, and she turned back to the window, staring at the dark shadows. She gulped, as much as she wanted to believe her own words...

Something felt terribly wrong.

* * *

><p>"Okay," Omega said, in the control room. "The rex is down." He pushed back in his chair, and grinned as he lit the final cigarette and crumpled the box. That did it: the final step in putting the park back together and back in order. Now all they had to do was to go out and move it.<p>

"Son on a bitch," Knuckles grinned, looking at the monitor, "I got him after all." He turned pointing at Mighty with a proud grin, "It just took him an hour to feel it that's all."

Charmy hovered nervously, frowning at the screen. "But he could drown, in the position…."

"He won't" Knuckles said. "Never seen an animal that was harder to kill."

"I think we have to go out and move him," Omega said.

"We will," Knuckles said. But he didn't sound very enthusiastic.

"That's a valuable animal."

"I know it's a valuable animal," Knuckles said, "What was he doing in the waterfall anyway?"

Omega shrugged and turned to Mighty. He couldn't resist a moment of triumph. "I'd point out to you," he said, "That the park is now completely back to normal. Whatever Malcolm's mathematical model said was going to happen. We are completely under control now."

Mighty almost responded, but his eyes flickered ever so slightly and he suddenly frowned. He pointed at the screen behind Omega's head, "What's that?"

Omega turned. It was the system status box, in the upper corner of the screen. Normally it was empty. Omega was surprised to see that it was now blinking yellow: AUX PWR LOW. For a moment, he didn't understand. Why should the auxiliary power be low? They were running on main power, not auxiliary power. He thought perhaps that it was just a routine status check on the auxiliary power, perhaps a check on the fuel tank levels or the battery charge….

"Charmy," Omega said slowly, "Look at this."

Charmy flew over, "Why are you running in auxiliary power?" he asked.

"I'm not," Omega said.

"I looks like you are."

"But I can't be."

"Print the system status log," Charmy suggested. The log was a record of the system over the last few hours.

Omega pressed a button , and they heard the hum of a printer in the corner. Charmy flew over to it.

Omega stared at the screen. The box now turned from flashing yellow to red, and the message now said: AUX PWR FAIL Numbers began to count backward from twenty.

"What the hell is going on?" Omega said.

* * *

><p>Ever so cautiously, Tails moved a few yards out along the muddy path, into the sunshine. He peered around the waterfall, and saw the tyrannosaur lying on its side, floating in the pool of water below.<p>

"I hope he's dead," Cream mumbled.

"I don't know…" Tails said. He could tell he was not dead however. The dinosaur's chest was still moving, and one forearm twitched in spasms. But something was wrong with him. Then Tails saw the white canister sticking in the back of the head, by the indentation of the ear.

"He has been shot with a dart," Tails said slowly, surprised.

"Good," Cream said, "He practically ate you!"

Tails watched the labored breathing. Even though Cream was somewhat right, he felt unexpectedly distressed to see the huge animal humbled like this. He didn't want it to die. "It's not his fault," he mumbled.

"Oh sure," Cream said rolling her eyes, "He practically ate us and it's not his fault."

"He's a carnivore. He was just doing what he does,"

"You wouldn't say that," Cream said, "If you were in his stomach right now."

Then the sound of the waterfall changed. From a deafening roar, it began softer, quieter. The thundering sheet of water thinned, became an trickle…

And stopped.

"Tails. The waterfall stopped," Cream said.

It was now dripping. Like water from the tap that wasn't completely turned off. The pool at the base of the waterfall was still. They stood near the top, in the cave like indentation filled with machinery, looking down.

"Waterfalls aren't supposed to stop," Cream stated.

Tails snickered at her comment, shaking his head, "It must be the power….Somebody turned off the power." Behind them, all the pumps and filters were shutting down one after another, the lights blinking off, and the machinery becoming quiet.

They jumped as there was a _thunk _sound, and the door marked MAINT 04 swung slowly open.

Grant stepped out, blinking in the light. "Dr. Grant!" Cream cheered, as she raced towards the hedgehog, hugging tightly.

Grant smiled, returning the hug. "Good work, kids. You got the door open."

"We didn't do anything," Cream said.

"The power went out," Tails said.

"Never mind that," Grant said. "Come on and see what I've found."

* * *

><p>Omega stared in shock.<p>

One after the other, the monitors went black, and then the room lights went out, plunging the room into darkness and confusion. Everyone started yelling at once. Knuckles opened the blinds and let light in, and Charmy brought over the print out.

"Look at this," he said.

**Time Event System Status**

**05:12:44 Safety 1 Off Operative**

**05:12:45 Safety 2 Off Operative**

**05:12:46 Safety 3 Off Operative**

**05:12:51 Shutdown Command Shutdown**

**05:13:48 Startup Command Shutdown**

**05:13:55 Safety 1 On Shutdown**

**05:13:55 Safety 2 On Shutdown**

**05:13:57 Safety 3 On Shutdown**

**05:14:08 Startup Command Startup – Aux Power**

Charmy said, "You shut down at five-thirteen this morning, and when you started back up, you started with auxiliary power."

"Jesus," Omega mumbled.

Apparently, main power had not been on since shutdown. When he powered back up, only the auxiliary power came on. Omega was thinking that was strange, when he suddenly realized that that was normal. That was what was _supposed _to happen. It made perfect sense: the auxiliary generator fired up first, and it was used to turn on the main generator, because it took a heavy charge to start the main power generator. That was the way the system was designed.

However, Omega had never before had occasion to turn the power off. And when the lights and screens came back on in the control room, it never occurred to him that main power hadn't also been restored.

But it hadn't, and all during since then, while they were looking for the rex, and doing one thing after another, the park had been running on auxiliary power. And that wasn't a good idea. In fact, the implications were just beginning to hit him-

"What does this line mean?" Knuckles said, pointing to the list.

Omega's eyes wandered down, slowly processing the words.

**05:14:57 Warning Fence Status [NB] Operative – Aux Power**

"It means a system status warning was sent to the monitors in the control room," Omega said, "Concerning the fences."

Knuckles growled, "Did you see the warning?"

Omega shook his head, "No. I must have been talking to you in the field. Anyway, no, I didn't see it."

"What does it mean, 'Warning: Fence Status'?"

"Well, I didn't know at the time, but we were running on backup power," Omega said, "And backup doesn't generate enough amperage to power the electrified fences, so they were kept off."

Knuckles scowled, "The electrified fences were off?"

"Yes."

"_All _of them? Since five this morning? For the last five hours?"

"…Yes."

"Including the raptor fences."

There was a burst of gasps in the room, as Omega sighed closing his eyes, "Yes."

"Oh Chaos," Knuckles said pale, "Five hours, those animals could be out."

"No wait a minute," Big urged, "Let's not hop to any-"

Then , somewhere in the distance…

They heard a scream.

_**I'm back! Missed me?**_

_**See I didn't leave you hanging for too long. :) And I even came back with a bang, this was super fun chapter to write, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.**_

_**And you thought I forgot about the raptors ;)**_

_**Stay tunned, because it all comes down this. The Final Domino has fallen, The Raptors are out, The power is down, Sonic and the kids have no way of contacting the boat. Will it reach the mainlnad? Will they survie, or will there be death?**_

_**I hope you enjoyed this, and I'll see you for the next exciting chapter of Jurassic Park =D**_


	20. The Raptors

Chapter 19

**The Raptors**

_Then , somewhere in the distance…_

_They heard a scream_.

Knuckles Muldoon began to talk very fast. He went around the room, handing out the portable radios.

"Omega is going to the maintenance shed to turn on main power. Charmy, you stay here in the control room, you are they only other one who can work the computers."

Charmy nodded, "Got it."

"Mr., Hammond, you and Amy go to the lodge and warn Ms. Sattler and Silver what's going on." Hammond opened his mouth to protest but Knuckles point with a glare, "Don't argue with me. Go now. Lock the gates, and stay behind them until you hear from me. I'll help Omega deal with the raptors." He turned to Mighty, "Like to live dangerously again?"

"Not really," Mighty said. He was very pale.

"Fine. Then go with the others to the lodge." Muldoon turned away. "That's it, everybody. Now _move_!"

"Come on sir," Amy urged, pulling the large purple cat towards the door.

Hammond whined, "What are you going to do to my animals?"

"That's not really the question, Mr. Hammond," Knuckles hissed, "The question is what are they going to do to us?"

Mighty watched Amy and Big hurry away, he turned his head to see Knuckles rush down the hall. He made up his mind then and hurried after Knuckles, stepping into step behind him. "Change your mind?" Knuckles asked.

"You'll need my help," Mighty said,

"I might," Knuckles walked into the room marked ANIMAL SUPERVISOR, picked up the gray shoulder launcher and unlocked a panel in the wall behind his desk. There were six cylinders and six canisters.

"The thing about those damn dinos" Knuckles said as he reached for a cylinder, "is that they have distributed nervous systems. They do not die fast enough. Even with a direct hit to the brain. And they are built solidly; Thick ribs make a shot to the heart dicey, and they are difficult to cripple in the legs or hindquarters. Slow bleeders, slow to die. Damn things." He was opening the cylinders one after the other and dropping in the canisters. He tossed a thick webbed belt to Gennaro. "Put that on."

Gennaro tightened the belt, and Muldoon passed him the shells, "About all we can hope to do is blow them apart. Even worse, we've only got six shells here. There are eight raptors fenced in the compound so let's make 'em count. Let's go. Stay close. You have the shells."

"Alright," Mighty said, tightening his belt a little more, his heart pounding. Then together they went out and ran along the hallway, looking down over the balcony to the path leading towards the maintenance shed. Mighty took a deep breath, mentally telling himself not to panic. Even though now was a perfect time to panic. They got to the ground floor and went out through the glass doors, and Muldoon stopped.

Omega was standing with his back to the shed. Three raptors approached him. Omega had picked up a stick, and he was waving it at them, shouting. The raptors fanned out as they came closer, one staying in the center, the other two moving to each side. Coordinated. Smooth. Mighty shivered.

_Pack behavior._

Muldoon was already crouching, setting the launcher on his shoulder. "Load," he said. Mighty slipped the shell in the back of the launcher. There was an electric sizzle, nothing happened. Knuckles cursed, "Sweet Angel Island, you've got it in backwards," Muldoon, said, tilting the barrel so the shell fell into Mighty's hands. Mighty loaded again, hands shaking slightly. The raptors were snarling at Omega when the animal on the left simply exploded, the upper part of the torso flying into the air. Blood splattered like a burst tomato on the walls of the building. The lower torso collapsed on the ground, the legs kicking in the air, the tall flopping. The scene reminded Mighty vaguely of a chicken without a head.

"That'll wake 'em up." Knuckles said.

Omega scrambled towards the maintenance shed. The velociraptors turned and started toward Mighty and Knuckles. They fanned out as they came closer. In the distance, somewhere near the lodge, he heard screams.

Mighty said, "This could be a disaster."

"Load," Knuckles said.

* * *

><p>Shelly's head jerked up, "Did you hear that?"<p>

Silver nodded. "It sounded like the noise from earlier."

"Its sounds like screaming," Shelly said slowly.

There was a pounding on the door, causing the two to jump. Shadow sat up painfully in bed. "Now who could that be?" he frowned. Silver stood and walked towards the door. Cracking it open, only for it to be shoved wide as Amy and Big Hammond came through.

Amy collapsed on the floor in her frantic rush, her breath short and raspy. "Close the door! Close the door! Her voice rising in panic. "Silver close the door hurry!"

"What's going on?" Shelly asked, helping her up, "Is everything alright?"

"Close the damn door!"

Silver closed the door, "Alright, alright. Amy calm down. What is going on out there? We heard screaming."

"The power died." Hammond frowned. "Apparently we've been running on auxiliary power for five hours. All the fences were down."

Amy took a deep breath, "The raptors…They..They got out; they are out of the pen."

Silver paled, "Oh my God! Where are the others?"

Amy sat down on a chair, "Omega is going to the maintenance shed to restore the power. Charmy is staying in the control room to wait for Omega. And Knuckles and Mr. Gennaro are protecting Omega from the raptors."

Silver started to pace. "Oh this is bad; this is really, really bad."

Shelly stared at the door. "The raptors are out…." She mumbled. She suddenly was grateful that Sonic and the children were still out in the park.

* * *

><p>Charmy Wu heard the explosions and looked toward the door of the control room. He circled around the consoles, then paused. He wanted to go out, but he knew he should stay in the room. If Omega was able to get the power back on-if only for a minute- then Wu could restart the main generator.<p>

He had to stay in this room.

He just hoped the others made it to the lodge all right.

He stiffened as he heard someone screaming. It sounded like Knuckles.

* * *

><p>Knuckles felt a wrenching pain in his ankle, tumbled down an embankment, and hit the ground running. It hurt like hell, but he did not stop. Looking back, he saw Gennaro running the other direction, into the forest. The raptors were ignoring Gennaro but pursuing Muldoon. They were now less than twenty yards away. Knuckles screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran, wonder where the hell he could go. Because he knew, he had perhaps ten seconds before they got him.<p>

Ten seconds.

Maybe less.

* * *

><p>Shelly helped Shadow turn to his side as Harding jabbed the needle and injected morphine. Malcolm sighed and collapsed back. It seemed he was growing weaker by the minute. Over the radio, they heard tinny screaming, and muffled explosions coming from the visitor center.<p>

Hammond walked into the room and sighed, "How is he?"

"He's holding," Silver sighed, "A bit delirious."

"I am nothing of the sort," Shadow said, "I am utterly clear," he paused to listen to the radio. "It sounds like a war out there."

"The raptors got out," Hammond said.

"Did they?" Shadow said, his breath shallow, "How could that possibly happen?"

"It was a system screw-up. Omega did not realize that the auxiliary power was on, and the fences cut out."

"Did they now."

"Go to hell, you supercilious fool!"

"If I remember" Shadow said, "I predicted the fence integrity would fail."

Hammond sighed, sitting down heavily. "Oh damn it all," he said, shaking his head. "I must surely not have escaped your notice, that deep down what we are attempting here is an extremely simple idea. You see, several years ago, my colleagues and I determined that it was possible to clone the DNA of an extinct animal, and grow it. That seemed to us a wonderful idea; it was a kind of time travel- the only kind in the world so to speak. And since it was so exciting, and since it was possible to do it, we decided to go forward. We got this island, and proceeded. It was all very simple."

"Simple? Simple!" Shadow said, suddenly angry.

"Malcolm, please," Harding said, "Now is not a good time,"

He brushed him off, "Simple?" Malcolm said. He somehow found the energy to sit up in the bed. "Simple? You're a bigger fool than I thought you were! And I'll have you know, I thought you were a very substantial fool."

Shelly said, "Dr. Malcolm," and tried to ease him back down. But Malcolm would have none of it. He pointed angrily at the radio, the shouts, and the screams.

"What is going on out there?" he said, "That, out there, is your _simple _idea!_ Simple! _You saw what others had done and you took the next step, but you had no respect for that power either. You create life forms, about which you know nothing about at all. Your Dr. Wu does not even know the names of the things he is creating. He cannot be bothered with such details as _what the thing is called, _let along what it _is._ You created these animals and did not even bother to learn about them! You made them; you therefore believe you own them and that they will do your bidding. Nevertheless, you forget they are animals. They have and intelligence of their own and you forget…they are _alive. _How incompetent you are to do things that you so frivolously call _simple…._Dear God…"

He sank back, coughing.

"You know what's wrong with scientific power?" He asked weakly, "It's a form of inherited wealth. And we all know what assholes congenitally rich people are. It never fails."

Hammond tilted his head, "What is he talking about?"

Silver made a sign, indicating delirium. Malcolm cocked his eye.

"I'll tell you what I'm talking about," Shadow said, "You have no respect, responsibility, or knowledge or the power you control."

Hammond said, "Do you know what he's talking about."

Shelly nodded.

"I haven't a clue," the old cat stated.

"I'll make it simple for you then." Shadow hissed, "A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands. He does not lose his temper and kill his wife. The person who kills is the person who has no discipline, no restraint, and who purchased his power from a Saturday night special. That is the person you are Big Hammond. And the power you possess is the kind of power that science fosters, and permits. And that is why you think that to build a place like this is simple.

"It _was _simple," Hammond insisted.

"Then why did it all go wrong?"

* * *

><p>Dizzy with tension, Omega threw open the door to the maintenance shed and stepped into the darkness inside. Chaos, it was black. He should have realized the lights would be out. He felt the cool air, the cavernous dimensions of the space, extending two floors below him. He had to find the catwalk. He had to be careful, or he'd break his neck.<p>

The catwalk.

He groped like a blind man until he realized it was hopeless. Somehow, he had to get light into the shed. He went back to the door and cracked it open four inches or so. That gave enough light, and hopefully the raptors would not notice. However, there was no way to keep the damn door open. Quickly he kicked off his shoe and stuck it in the door.

He went toward the catwalk, seeing easily. He walked along the metal, hearing the difference in his feet, one loud, one soft. But at least he could see. Up ahead was the stairway leading down to the generators. Just another ten yards.

Darkness.

The light was gone.

Omega looked back to the door, and saw the body of a velociraptor blocked the light. The animal bent over, and carefully sniffed the shoe.

* * *

><p>Charmy Wu paced. He ran his hands over the computer consoles. He touched the screens. He was in constant movement. He was almost frantic with tension.<p>

He reviewed the steps he would take. He had to be quick. The first screen would come up, and he would press-

"Charmy!" the radio hissed.

He grabbed for it, "Yes, I'm here!"

"Got any bloody power yet?" It was Knuckles. Sounding pissed of course, but it was still Knuckles. There was something odd about his voice though… Something hollow.

"No," Charmy said. He smiled, grateful to know the echidna was alive.

"I think Omega made it to the shed," Knuckles said, "After that I don't know."

"What about the lawyer? Mr. Gennaro? Where is he?"

"How the hell should I know? He ran one way, I ran another."

Charmy sighed, "Fine, where are you then?"

"I'm stuffed."

"What?"

"I'm stuffed in a bloody pipe," Knuckles said, "And I'm very popular at the moment."

* * *

><p>Wedged in a pipe was more like it, Knuckles thought. There had been a stack of drainage pipes piled behind the visitor center, and he backed himself into the nearest one, scrambling frantically like a rabbit. The two-foot wide pipe was a little bit of a squeeze for him, but the tighter the better. That meant the damn raptors couldn't come after him.<p>

At least, not after he'd shot the leg off one, when the nosy beast came too close to the pipe. The raptor had gone off howling, and the others were now respectful (for raptors that is). His only regret was that he had not waited to see the snout at the end of the tube before pulling the trigger.

But he still might have his chance, because there were three or four outside, snarling and growling around him.

"Yes, very popular," he said into the radio.

Charmy said, "Does Omega have a radio?"

"Don't think so," Knuckles said, "Just sit tight. Wait it out."

He hadn't seen what the other end of the pipe was like-he's backed in too quickly-and he couldn't see now. He was wedged tight. He could only hope that the far end wasn't open. Chaos, he did not like the thought of one of those bastards taking a bite off his hindquarters.

* * *

><p>Omega backed away from the catwalk. The velociraptor was barely ten feet away, stalking him, coming forward into the gloom. Omega could hear the click of its deadly claws on the metal.<p>

But he was going slowly. He knew the animal could see well, but the grille of the catwalk, the unfamiliar odors had made him cautious. That caution was his only chance, Omega thought. If he could just get to the stairs, and then move down to the floor below…

Because he was pretty sure velociraptors couldn't climb stairs. Certainly not narrow, steep stairs anyway.

Omega glanced over his shoulder. The stairs were just a few feet away. Another few steps…

He was there! Reaching back he felt the railing, started scrambling down the almost vertical steps. His metal arm clanging against the railing. His feet touched flat concrete. The raptor snarled in frustration, twenty feet above him on the catwalk.

"To bad buddy," Omega said. He turned away. He was now very close to the auxiliary generator. Just a few more steps and he would see it, even in this dim light…

There was a dull thump behind him

Omega slowly turned.

The raptor was standing on the concrete floor, snarling.

_It had jumped down._

He looked quickly for a weapon, but suddenly he found he was slammed onto his back on the concrete. Something heavy was pressing on his chest it was impossible to breathe, and he realized the animal was _standing on top of him, _and he felt the big claws digging into the flesh of his chest, and smelled the foul breath from the head moving above him, and he opened his mouth to scream.

* * *

><p>Shelly held the radio in her hands, listening. Two more workmen (both salamanders) had arrived at the lodge; they seemed to know it was safe here. However, there had been no others in the last few minutes and Shelly had a sick feeling there would not be anymore anyway. It sounded quieter outside too, the screams had seemed to die. Over the radio, Knuckles said, "How long has it been?"<p>

Charmy said, "Four, five minutes."

"Omega should have been done by now." Knuckles said, "If he's going to. You've got any ideas?"

"No," Charmy said.

"We heard from Gennaro yet?"

Gennaro pressed the button, "I'm here,"

"Glad to know you are okay," Shelly said.

"Where the bloody hell are you?" Knuckles said,

"I'm going to the maintenance building," Mighty said, "Wish me luck."

* * *

><p>Mighty crouched in the foliage, listening.<p>

Directly ahead he saw the planted pathway, leading toward the visitor center. Mighty knew the maintenance shed was somewhere to the east. He heard the chirping of birds in the trees. A soft mist was blowing. One of the raptors roared, but it was some distance away. It sounded off to his right. Mighty set out, leaving the path, plunging into the foliage.

_Like to live dangerously?_

_Not really._

It was true, he didn't. He had already face the rex though and that took guts, and personally, he'd rather face the rex than the raptors. But Gennaro thought he had a plan, or at least a possibility that might work. If he stayed north of the main complex of buildings, he could approach the maintenance shed from the rear. All the raptors were probably around the other buildings, to the south. There was no reason for them to be in the jungle.

At least, he hoped not.

He moved as quietly as he could, unhappily aware he was making a lot of noise. "Okay, slow down Mighty Gennaro, relax," he told himself "Just keep calm." He slowed down, taking deep breath, "Just relax," Because if you don't, the raptors will eat you alive, he thought unhappily.

He forced himself to go slower, feeling his heart pound in his ears. The foliage here was very dense; he couldn't see more than five or six feet ahead of him, that means he couldn't see the raptors either, or the shed, he might miss it entirely. Then he saw the roof to his right, above the palms.

He moved toward it, went slowly around the side. He found the door, opened it, and slipped inside. It was very dark. He cursed as he stumbled over something. He reached down blindly running his hands over the object.

A man's shoe.

Gennaro frowned. He propped the door wide open and continued deeper into the building. He saw a catwalk directly ahead of him. He paused, it had just dawned him that he didn't know where to do. And he had left his radio behind.

Damn!

He thought he had a plan, 85% of one anyway. Leaving behind the radio how stupid was that?

There might be a radio somewhere in the maintenance building. Or else he would probably just look for the generator. He knew what a generator looked like. Probably somewhere, down on the lower floor. He moved across the catwalk and found a steep staircase leading down.

It was most defiantly darker down there. It was very difficult to see anything. He felt his way among the pipes, holding his hands out to keep from banging his head.

He cursed as he tripped yet again. What did workers just leave their tools where ever the wanted? He reached down, and his fingers brushed against something cool and hard. He picked it up, the item creaking as it went. Holding it close to his face he attempted to identify the object, it was long, about the width of his arm, it narrowed at one point before expanding out and breaking into five smaller pipes. Why it was a metal arm, now why would-

Mighty gasped and dropped the item, the arm clanging on the floor. Omega had a metal arm! Mighty looked at his hands, his gloves were sticky with blood, Mighty looked at the arm, stained with red sticky and wet against the silver metal. Mighty covered his mouth, he suddenly felt sick, Omega must have-the raptors-

He heard an animal snarl, and froze. He listened, but the sound did not come again. He moved forward cautiously. Something dripped on his shoulder, then on his bare arm. It was warm, like water. He touched it in the darkness.

Sticky. He smelled it.

Blood.

He looked up. The raptor was perched on pipes, just a few feet above his head. Blood trickling from its claws. With and odd sense, he wondered it if it was injured. And then he began to run, but the raptor jumped onto his back, he screamed as he was pushed to the ground.

Mighty was strong, he heaved up, knocking the raptor away, and rolled off across the concrete. He sent himself a personal note to thank his old high school coach for all the crazy workouts if he survived this. When he turned back, he saw that the raptor had fallen on its side, where it lay panting.

Yes, it was injured. Its leg was hurt for some reason.

_Kill it._

Mighty scrambled to his feet, looking for a weapon. Where did that damn hand go? The raptor was still panting. He looked frantically for something-anything- to use as a weapon. When he turned back, the raptor was gone.

It snarled, the sound echoing in the darkness.

Mighty turned in a full circle. His chest heaved up and down, his breath in loud gasps. He kept turning, feeling with outstretched hands. And then he felt a sharp pain in his right hand.

Teeth.

_It was biting him._

The raptor jerked his head, and Mighty Gennaro was yanked off his feet, and he fell.

* * *

><p>"Anything?" Knuckles asked, "You getting anything?"<p>

"Nothing," Charmy said.

"Damn," Knuckles sighed.

There was a pause.

Malcolm sighed, glancing at Shelly, "I can't wait," he said, "to hear his new plan."

"What I would like," Knuckles spoke up, "is to get everybody to the lodge and regroup. But I don't see how."

"There is a Jeep in front of the visitor center," Charmy suggested, "If I drove over to you, could you get yourself into it?"

"Maybe. But you'd be abandoning the control room."

"I can't do anything here anyway."

"God know that's true," Muldoon said. "A control room without electricity is not much of a control room." He paused, "All right, let's try. This isn't looking good."

Lying in the bed, Malcolm said, "No, it's not looking good. It's looking like a disaster."

Charmy said, "The raptors are going to follow us over there."

"We're still better off," Shadow said, "Just do it,"

The radio clicked off. Shadow closed his eyes, breathing slowly.

"Just relax," Shelly eased, "Take it easy."

"How can I take it easy with everything that's going on here." He sighed putting his arm over his eye, "I hate it when my predictions are right,"

"If you were so sure, why didn't you do anything?" Silver asked.

Shadow pointed and Big Hammond with his other arm, "Because he wouldn't listen to me. The world is going to change because of what happened here."

"That's and extreme accusation," Big said shaking his head.

"So what will happen?" Shelly asked.

Shadow shrugged, "A change,"

"What kind of change?"

"All major changes are like death," he said. "You can't see to the other side until you are there."

"The poor man," Hammond said shaking his head again.

Shadow lowered his arm and sighed, staring at the old cat with a piercing gaze, "Do you have any idea," he said, "how unlikely it is that you, or any of us, will get off this island alive?"

**Ah sweet chaos my fingers hurt!**

**That was a painfullly long chapter, oh well it was worth it. :)**

**Anyway, two people down, plus multiple unamed characters that the raptors probably got as well. At least Sonic and the kids aren't there right? lol They get a little break ... For now. :)**

**Well I hoped you enjoy this thrilling chapter. Hope to see you soon with the next one!**

**-SS**


	21. Back To The Visitor Center

**Return**

Its electric motor whirring and rumbling, the cart raced forward down the dark underground tunnel. Sonic drove fast and hard, his foot to the floor. The tunnel was featureless except the occasional air vent above, shaded to protect against rainfall, and thus permitting little light to enter. But he noticed- a new feature among the not so surprising discoveries this weekend- that there were crusty white animal droppings in many places. Obviously lots of animals had been in here.

Sitting beside him in the cart, Cream shone the flashlight to the back, were the velociraptor lay. "You sure that thing can't hurt us?"

"He can't Cream," Tails explained, "Dr. Grant shot him with a dart."

"Is that why it's having trouble breathing?"

"Yes," Sonic said.

"Will it die."

"I sure hope not."

"Why are we taking it?" Cream asked.

"To prove to the people back at the center that the dinosaurs are really breeding," Sonic said.

"How do you know they are breeding again?"

Sonic chuckled, it never ceased to amuse him, how children could ask so many questions. "Because this one is young," he said, "And it's a boy dinosaur."

"Is it?" Cream asked, peering closer with the flashlight beam.

"Yes. Now shine the light up here would you?" He held out his wrist, turning his watch to her, "What does it say?"

"It says….ten-fifteen."

"Okay, thank you Cream."

"You're welcome Dr. Grant!" Cream replied cheerfully happy to be of use.

Tails tapped his chin, "Ten-fifteen, that mean we have only forty-five minutes to contact the boat."

"We should be close," Sonic said, "I figure we should be almost to the visitor center right now." He wasn't sure to be honest, but he sensed the tunnel was gently titling upward, leading them back to the surface, and hopefully-

"Wow!" Tails said.

They burst out into the daylight with shocking speed. There was a light mist blowing, obscuring the building that loomed directly above them. Sonic saw at once that it was the visitor center. They had arrived right in front of the garage!

"Yay!" Cream cheered, "We did it! We made it! Yay!" She bounced up and down in her seat. Sonic laughed as he parked the cart in the garage. Tails cheered, "Ha! We showed those dinosaurs who's boss!" Sonic grinned, "We did didn't we?" he said as he helped Cream out.

There was a stack of animal cages along one of the walls. They put the velociraptor in one, with a dish of water. Then they started to climb the stairs to the ground-floor entrance of the visitor center.

"I'm gonna eat a hamburger!" Tails said, "Or maybe a chilidog! I'm starved!"

"Me too!" Creams said, "And french fries! Chocolate milk shake! No more dinosaurs! Yay!" They came to the lobby, happy and triumphant, and they opened the door.

And they fell silent.

In the lobby of the visitor center, everything was in complete disarray. The glass doors had been shattered, and a cold gray mist blew through the cavernous main hall. A sign that read WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH dangled from one hinge, creaking in the wind. The big tyrannosaur robot was upended and lay with its legs in the air, its tubing and metal innards exposed. Outside, there was nothing but silence, only rows of palm trees, shadowy shapes in the fog.

Sonic gulped. The happiness was gone, his stomach twisted in knot. Something was not right. His eyes fell among the metal security desk. His eyes drifted lower, and locked onto the sight of a body. His ears tucked back and his blood went cold. Something had happened here, something bad. Things here were extremely wrong.

He led the children over to the desk. The children huddled against the desk. Sonic took the radio from the guard, and tried all the channels. "Hello, this is Grant. Is anybody there? Hello, this is Grant."

Cream stated at the body of the guard, lying on the floor to the right. From where she sat, she could only see the legs and feet.

"Don't look at it Cream." Sonic said, before turning back to the radio, "Hello this is Grant. Hello?"

Cream leaned forward, peering around the edge of the desk. Grant grabbed her sleeve. "Hey. Stop that!"

"Is he dead Dr. Grant?" What's that stuff on the floor? Blood?"

"Yes,"

"How come it isn't red?"

"You're morbid you know that," Tails said.

"What's morbid? And I am not!" Cream snapped.

"Guys shhh, please stop." Sonic sighed.

The radio crackled, and a voice poured forth, "My God," said the voice, "Grant? Is that you?"

Sonic's eyes lit up, "Malcolm? Yes! It's me Grant!"

"Oh thank God! Almost everyone here thought you were dead! Do you have the kids?"

"Yes, I have the kids. We are all okay, just a few bumps and bruises," Sonic smiled, "Glad to know you are alive, I thought you were dead."

"… Hmm I'm alive for now, good to know about the kids," there was a pause before he spoke away from the radio, "it's Grant!"

There was a shuffling then, "Alan? Alan?" It was Shelly.

"I'm here," Sonic said.

"Oh thank God!" Shelly gasped, "I was so worried, are you alright?"

"I'm alright, yes."

"What about the kids? Have you seen them?"

"I have them with me," Sonic said, "They're okay."

"Thank God!"

"Shelly is everything alright?" Cream was crawling around the side of the desk. Sonic slapped her ankle, "Get back here."

The radio crackled "- n where are you?"

"In the lobby. In the lobby of the main building. Where are you? Is everything alright."

Over the radio, he recognized the voice of Wu, "Oh Chaos. They're _here."_

"Sonic, listen," Shelly said. "The raptors have gotten loose. They can open doors. They might be in the same building as you."

His heart froze for a millisecond. His ears tucked back tighter, that would explain the knot in his stomach earlier. The lobby suddenly seemed to have a menacing look about it, and he twitched at the slightest sound. He closed his eyes and sighed, "Great just great. Where are you?"

"We're at the lodge."

Sonic said, "And the others? Muldoon, everybody else?"

"We've lost a few people," Shelly said, "But we got everybody else over to the lodge."

"Alright, are the telephones working?"

"No, the whole system is shut off. Nothing works."

He sighed, "Okay….How do we get the blasted system back on?"

"We've been trying."

"We have to get it back on," Sonic said, "Right away. If we don't, within half an hour the raptors will have reached the mainland."

He started to explain about the boat when Muldoon cut him off. "I don't think you understand, Dr. Grant. We haven't got half an hour left, over here."

"How's that?"

"Some of the raptors followed us. We have two on the roof now."

"So? The building is impregnable."

Muldoon coughed, "Apparently not. It was never expected that animals would get up on the roof." The radio crackled. "-must have planted a tree too close to the fence. The raptors got over the fence, and onto the roof. Anyway, the steel bars on the skylight are supposed to be electrified, but of course the power's off. They're biting through the bars of the skylight."

Sonic's eye twitched, "Biting…" He frowned, trying to imagine it, "How fast." Damn the universe was so against him right now.

"Yes," Muldoon said, "they have a bite pressure of fifteen thousand pounds a square inch. They're like hyenas, they can bite through steel and- "The transmission was lost for a moment.

"How fast?" Sonic asked again.

Muldoon said, "I'd guess we've got another ten, fifteen minutes before the break throught completely and come through the skylight into the building. And once they're in….Ah, just a minute Dr. Grant."

The radio clicked off.

"Muldoon? Malcolm? Shelly? Anyone!" Sonic said.

But the radio remained silent.

* * *

><p>In the skylight above Malcolm's bed, the raptors had chewed through the first of the steel bars. One raptor gripped the end of the bar and tugged, pulling it back. It put its powerful hind limb on the skylight and the glass shattered, glittering down like sharp snow on Malcolm's bed below. Shelly and Amy reached over and removed the largest of the fragments from the bed.<p>

"Chaos, they're ugly," Shadow said, looking up.

Now that the glass was broken and gone, they could hear the snorts and snarls of the raptors, the squeal of their teeth on the metal as they chewed. Foamy saliva spattered onto the sheets and the bedside table.

"At least they can't get in yet," Shelly said, "Not until they chew through another bar."

Charmy said, "If Grant could somehow get to the maintenance shed…"

"Bloody hell," Knuckles said. He limped around the room on his sprained ankle. "He can't get there fast enough. He can't get the power on fast enough. Not to stop this."

"Yes," Shadow said, before going into a fit of coughs, "Yes," he said again his voice almost a wheeze.

Muldoon turned , "What did he say?"

"Yes," Shadow repeated, "Can…"

"Can what?"

"Distraction…." He winced.

"What kind of distraction?" Charmy said.

"Go to ,,,,the fence…"

"Yes?" Silver urged, "And do what?"

A weak smile twitched on Malcolm's lips. "Stick….your hands through."

"Oh Chaos," Knuckles said, turning away.

"Wait a minute," Charmy said, "He's right. There are only two raptors here. This means there at least four more out there. We could go out and provide a distraction."

"And then what?"

"And then Grant would be free to go to the maintenance building and turn on the generator."

"And then go back to the control room and start up the system?"

"Exactly."

"No time," Knuckles said, "No time."

"But if we can lure the raptors down here," Charmy argued, "maybe even get them away from the skylight….It might work. Worth a try."

"Bait," Knuckles said slowly,

"Exactly."

"Who's going to be bait? I'm no good. My ankle's shot."

"I'll do it," Charmy said.

"No," Muldoon said, "You're the only one who knows what to do about the computer, You need to talk Grant through the start-up."

"Then I'll do it," Silver said.

"No," Shelly said standing, "Malcolm will need you. I'll do it."

"Hell, I don't think so," Knuckles said, "You're-"

"We talk survival of the sexes later," Shelly frowned, "I'll do it."

"You'd have raptors al around you, raptors on the roof…"

But she was already bending over, lacing her running shoes. "Just don't tell Grant." She said. "It'll make him nervous."

* * *

><p>The lobby was quiet, chilly fog drifting past them. Sonic was tense twitching at the slightest sound. The radio had been dead for several minutes. Time shifted, "Why aren't they talking to us?"<p>

"I'm hungry," Cream mumbled.

Sonic ran his finger through her hair, "I know Cream, just hang on a little longer for me kay?" He looked at Tails, "They're trying to plan," Sonic said, "At least that's what I hope they are doing."

The radio crackled to life, "Grant, are you- rmy Wu speaking. Are you there?"

"I'm here," Sonic said.]

"Listen," Wu said, "Can you see to the rear of the visitor building from where you are?"

Sonic looked through the rear glass doors, to the palm trees and the fog.

"Yes," Sonic said.

Wu said, "There's a path straight to through the palm trees to the maintenance building. That's where the power equipment and generators are. I believe you saw the maintenance building yesterday?"

"Yes," Sonic said. Though he was momentarily puzzled. Was it yesterday that he had looked into the building? It seemed like years ago.

"Now listen," Wu said, "We thing we can get all the raptors down here by the lodge, but we aren't sure. So be careful. Give us five minutes."

"Okay," Sonic said.

"You can leave the kids in the cafeteria, and they should be fine. Take the radio with you when you go."

"Kids to the cafeteria, take the radio with me, wait five minutes, got it," Sonic said.

"Turn it off before you leave, so it doesn't' make any noise outside. And call me when you get to the maintenance building."

"Okay."

Sonic turned the radio off. Cream crawled up to him, "Are we going to the cafeteria?"

"Yes," Sonic said. They got up, and started walking through the blowing mist in the lobby.

"I want a hamburger." Cream said.

"I don't think there's any electricity to cook with."

"Then ice cream,"

"Tails you are going to have to stay and help her."

"I will,"

"I've got to leave for a while," Sonic said.

Tails looked up at him, "I know."

They moved to the cafeteria entrance. On opening the door, Sonic saw a square dining-room tables and chairs, swinging stainless-steel doors beyond. Nearby a cash register and a rack with gum and candy.

"Okay, kids. I want you to stay here no matter what. Got it?"

"Leave the radio with us," Cream said,

"I can't. I need it. Just stay here. I'll only be gone about five minutes. Okay?"

Cream paused, "Okay."

Sonic smiled ruffling her hair and turned away. He closed the door. The cafeteria became completely dark. Cream grabbed onto Tails's hand. "Turn on the lights," she said.

"I can't," Tails said. "There is no electricity remember?" as he pulled down his night vision goggles.

"That's fine for you, What about me?"

"Just hold my hand. We'll get some food." He led her forward. In the green vision of the goggles he saw the tables and chairs. To the right, the glowing green cash register, and the rack of gum and candy. He grabbed a handful of candy bars.

"I told you," Cream said, "I want ice cream, not candy."

"Take these anyway."

"Ice cream Tails."

He sighed, "Okay, okay."

Tails stuffed the candy bars in his pocket, and led Cream deeper into the dining room. She tugged on his arm, "I can't see spit." She said.

"Just walk with me. Hold my hand."

"Then slow down."

Beyond the tables and chairs was a pair of swinging doors with little round windows in them. They probably led to the kitchen. He pushed one door open and held it wide.

* * *

><p>Shelly Sattler stepped outside the front door to the lodge, and felt the chilly mist on her face and legs. She tucked her red hair behind her ear, taking a deep breath. Her heart was thumping, even though she knew she was completely safe behind the fence. Even though there was the matter of the raptors on the roof. Directly ahead, she saw the heavy bars in the fog.<p>

However, she couldn't see much beyond the fence. Another twenty years and the landscape turned milky white, swallowed by a white blanket. In addition, she didn't see any raptors at all. In fact, the gardens and the trees were almost eerily silent. "Hey!" she shouted out into the fog, tentatively.

Knuckles leaned against the doorframe. "I doubt that'll do it." He said. "You've got to make _noise." _He hobbled out carrying a steel rod from the construction inside. He banged the rod against the fence like a dinner gong. "Come on and get it! Dinner is served!"

"Very funny," Shelly said. She glanced nervously at the roof. She saw no raptors.

"They don't understand English." Knuckles grinned. "But I imagine they get the general idea…"

She was still nervous, and found his humor somewhat annoying. She looked toward the visitor building, cloaked in fog. Knuckles resumed banging in the bars. At the limit of her vision, almost lost in the fog, she saw a ghostly pale animal. A raptor.

"First customer," Knuckles said.

The raptor disappeared, a white shadow, and then came back, but it did not approach any closer, and it seem strangely incurious about the noise coming from the lodge. She was starting to worry. Unless she could attract the raptors to the lodge, Sonic would be in danger.

"You're making to much noise," Shelly said.

"Bloody hell I am," Knuckles growled.

"Well, you are."

"I know these animals-"

She crossed her arms, "You've been drinking. You're drunk." She said, "Let me handle it."

"And how will you do that?"

She did not answer him. She went to the gate. "They say raptors are intelligent."

"They are. At least as intelligent and chimps."

"They have good hearing?"

"Yes, excellent hearing."

"Maybe they'll know this sound." She said, and opened the gate. The metal hinges, rusted from the constant mist, creaked loudly. She closed it again, then opened it with another creak.

She left it open.

"I wouldn't do that," Muldoon said. "You're going to do that, let me get the launcher."

"Get the launcher then."

He sighed, suddenly remembering, "Gennaro had the shells."

"Well then," she said, "Keep an eye out." And she went through the gate, stepping outside the bars. He heart was pounding so hard she could barely feel her feet on the dirt. She moved away from the fence, and it disappeared frighteningly fast in the fog. Soon it was lost behind her.

Just as she expected, Knuckles began shouting at her in drunken agitation. "Damn it, girl, don't you do that!" he bellowed.

"Don't call me 'girl'" she shouted back.

"I'll call you any damn thing I want!" he shouted.

She wasn't listening. She was turning slowly, her body tense, watching from all sides, ready to move at the slightest sound. She was at least twenty yards from the fence now, and she could see the mist drifting like a light rain past the foliage. She stayed away from the foliage, she knew better than that. She moved through a world of shades of gray. The muscles in her legs and shoulder ached from the tension. Her eyes strained to see.

"Do you hear me, damn it?" Muldoon yelled.

How good were these animals? She wondered. Good enough to cut off my retreat? There wasn't much distance back to the fence, not really-

They attacked.

There was no sound.

The first animal charged from the foliage at the base of a tree to the left. It sprang forward and she turned and ran. The second attack from the other side, clearly intending to catch her in her escape. It leapt at her, claws raised to attack. She sprinted forward like no tomorrow, leaving the animal to crash into the dirt. Now she was flat out running, not even daring to look back, her breaths were coming in heavy gasps now. All see remember was seeing the bars if the fence emerge from the haze, seeing Muldoon throw the gate wide, seeing him reaching for, shouting to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her through so hard she was yanked off her feet and fell to the ground.

She grunted at she landed on the sharp gravel, wincing in pain. She turned just in time to see first one, then two-then three- animals hit the fence snarling and growling.

"Good work," Knuckles shouted. He was taunting the animals now, snarling back, and it drove them wild. The flung themselves at the fence, leaping forward, and one of them nearly made it over the top. "Chaos, that was close! These beasties can jump!"

She got to her feet, he legs shaky. She looked at the scraped and bruises, the blood running down her legs. All she could think was three animals here, in addition, to the two on the roof… That meant one was still missing, somewhere.

"Come on and help me," Knuckles called breaking her thoughts, "Let's keep 'em interested!"

* * *

><p>Sonic left the visitor center and moved quickly forward, into the mist. He found the path among the palm trees and followed it north. Up ahead, the rectangular maintenance shed emerged from the fog.<p>

There was no door that he could see at all. He walked on, around the corner. Sonic saw a loading dock for trucks. He scrambled up, glancing back nervously for raptors, before turning back to a vertical rolling door of steel, it was locked. "Damn." He jumped down again and continued around the building. Farther ahead, to his right, Sonic saw and ordinary door just to his right. It was propped open with a man's shoe.

Sonic stepped inside and squinted in the darkness. He listened, and heard nothing. He picked up the radio and turned it on.

"This is Grant," he said, "I'm inside."

**Haha okay I totally jinxed myself. But we all knew the kids and Sonic were not going to be left out of the fun with the raptor right? Right? Anyway this chapter is shorter but that's okay it makes my fingers hurt a lot less. Oh no! I just realized, Grant went into the maintenance shed. Where Mighty and Omega met their fate with the raptor, oh no, what will we do? LOL.**

**I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me for twenty whole chapters. Yes I know fanfiction says its chapter twenty one but the author's note does not count. So...**

**Holy Tweny Chapter Batman!**

**lol Thanks for all your patience, since this is the final home stretch I'm going to be pumping these last few chapters out as fast as I can, so expect a new one every few days or so. Then when we get to number two things will slow back down again.**

**So stay tuned for the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one. **

**See you soon!**


	22. Lunch With Raptors

Chapter 21

**Lunch with Raptors**

Charmy looked up at the skylight. The two raptors peered down into Malcolm's room, but they seemed distracted by the noises outside. He went to the lodge window. Outside, the three velociraptors continued to charge the fence. Shelly was running back and forth, safely behind the bars. She ran, waving her hands around and yelling. However, the raptors no longer seemed to be seriously trying to get her. Now they almost seemed to be playing, circling back from the fence, rearing up and snarling, then dropping down low, to circle again and finally charge. Their behavior had taken a distinct quality of display, rather than attack.

"Like birds," Silver said, "Putting on a show."

Charmy nodded, "They're intelligent. They see they cannot get to here. They're not really trying."

The radio buzzed, "-side."

Charmy gripped the radio, "Say again, Dr. Grant?"

"I'm inside." Grant said.

"Dr. Grant, you're in the maintenance building?"

"Yes," Grant said, and then he added, "Just call me Sonic, formalities make me nervous."

"All right…Sonic. If you're standing just inside the east door, you see a lot of pipes and tubing." Charmy closed his eyes, attempting to visualize. "Straight ahead is a big recessed well in the center of the building that goes two stories underground. To your…left I believe, is a metal walkway with railings."

"I see it."

"Go along the walkway."

"I'm going," Faintly, the radio carried the clang of his footsteps against the metal catwalk.

"After you go thirty to forty feet, you will see another walkway going right."

"I see it," Grant said.

"Follow it."

"Kay,"

"As you continue," Charmy said, "You will come to a ladder on your left. Going gown into the pit."

"I see it."

"Alright, good. Now go down the ladder."

There was a long pause. Charmy tugged on his antennae nervously. Silver frowned tensely.

"Alright, I'm down the ladder," Sonic said.

"Good." Charmy said, "Now, straight ahead of you should be two large yellow tanks that are marked 'Flammable'."

"They say '_In-_Flammable'. Then something underneath. In Spanish."

"Those are the ones," Charmy said, "Those are the two fuel tanks for the generator. One of them has been run dry, and so we have to switch over to the other one. If you look at the bottom of the tanks, you'll see a red pipe coming out."

"Four-inch PVC?"

"Yes. PVC. Follow the pipe as it goes back."

"Okay. I'm following it-"

CLANG!

Charmy blinked in surprise as pained yelling poured forth from the radio.

"Ow! Sweet mother of- Oh! Damn it that hurt! Ow, Ow, Ow! Bloody chaos that hurt like-"

"What happened?" Charmy asked.

"Nothing. I just hit my head."

There was a pause.

"Damn that was stupid, Chaos, who places a pipe that low…Ow."

Charmy sneaked a small smile; he felt bad but it was sorta funny, but as grave as the situation was at the moment… He coughed, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine. Just….hurt my head. Stupid."

"Keep following the pipe."

"Okay, okay," Grant said. He sounded irritated, "Okay. The pipe goes to a big aluminum box with air vents in the sides. Says 'Honda'. It looks like the generator."

"Yes," Charmy said. "That's the generator. If you walk around to the side, you'll see a panel with two buttons."

"I see them, a blue one and white one?"

"That's right," Charmy said. "Press the white one first, and while you hold it down, press the red one."

"Right."

There was another pause. It lasted almost a minute. Charmy and Silver looked at each other.

"Sonic?"

"It didn't work?" Grant said.

"Did you hold down the white one first and then press the red?" Charmy asked.

"Yes I did," Grant said. He sounded annoyed. "I did exactly what you said. All the thing did was hum, then it clicked three times very fast, and then the hum stopped. Then there was nothing after that."

Charmy frowned, "Try it again."

"I already did," Grant said, "It didn't work."

"Okay just a second," Charmy said, "It sounds like the generator is trying to fire up but can't for some reason. Sonic?"

"Still here."

"Go around to the back of the generator, to where the plastic pipe runs in."

"Okay," A pause; then Grant said, "The pipe goes into a round black cylinder that looks like a fuel pump."

"That's right," Charmy, said, "That's exactly what it is. It is the fuel pump. Look for a valve on the right."

"A valve?"

"It should be sticking out the upper right, with a little metal tab that you can turn."

"I found it. But it's on the left not the top."

"Okay, twist it open."

"Air is coming out,"

"Good. Wait until-"

"-now there is liquid coming out. It smells like gas."

"Okay. Close the valve." Charmy turned to Silver, shaking his head. "Pump lost its prime. Sonic?"

"Yep?"

"Try the buttons one more time."

A moment later, Charmy heard the faint coughing and sputtering as the generator turned over, and then a steady chugging sound as it caught. "It's on," Grant said.

Charmy's face lit up. "Good work, Sonic! Good work!"

Charmy and Silver high fived. "Yes, I knew we could do it!" Silver grinned.

"Now what?" Grant said. He didn't sound very enthusiastic about their little victory. "The lights haven't even come back on in here."

"We have to go back to the control room, and I'll talk you through restoring the systems manually."

"That's what I have to do now?"

"Yes."

"Okay," Grant said, "I'll call you when I get there."

There was a final hiss, and silence.

"Sonic? Sonic?"

The radio was dead.

* * *

><p>Tails went through the swinging doors at the back of the dining room and entered the kitchen. A big stainless-steel table was in the center of the room, a big stove with lots of burners to the left, and, beyond that, big walk-in refrigerators. Tails started opening the refrigerators, looking for ice cream. Some came out in the humid air as he opened each one.<p>

"How come the stove is on?" Cream asked letting go off his hand.

"It's not sis, how many times must I tell you that the power is out?"

"But they all have little blue flames."

"Those are pilot lights Cream." Tails sighed.

"What're pilot lights?" They had and electric stove at home.

"Oh, never mind," Tails, said, opening another refrigerator. "But it means I can cook you something. " In the next fridge, he found all sorts of stuff, milk, veggies, and a stack of T-bone steaks. But there was no ice cream.

"Do you still want ice cream?"

"I told you didn't I?"

The next refrigerator was huge. A stainless steel door, with a wide horizontal handle. He tugged the handle, pulled it open and saw it was not a refrigerator, but a walk in freezer. It was whole room, and it was bone chillingly cold.

"Tails…."

"Will you just wait a minute?" he said, he was beginning to get annoyed, "I'm trying to find your dumb ice cream."

"Tails…._something's here."_

She was whispering now, and for a moment, the last two words did not quiet register in his brain. Then Tails hurried back out of the freezer, seeing the edge of the door writhe in glowing green smoke. Cream stood by the steel worktable. She was looking back to the kitchen door.

He froze as he heard low hissing sound, like a very large snake. The sound rose and fell softly. It was hardly audible. It might even be the wind, but somehow he knew it wasn't.

"Tails," she whispered, "I'm scared…"

He crept slowly forward to the kitchen door and looked out the circular window.

In the darkened dining room, he saw the orderly green rectangle pattern of the tabletops. And moving smoothly among them, silent as ghost, except for the hissing of its breath, and deadly as can be, was a velociraptor.

* * *

><p>Sonic hurried as quickly as he could. In the darkness of the maintenance room, Sonic felt his way along the pipes, moving (hopefully) towards the ladder. It was difficult to make his way in the dark, and he found the noise of the generator disorienting. No, more like terrifying, the generator was loud. He could barely hear anything but the generator. Raptors had excellent hearing, what if they heard the generator, even from the lodge. Would they come, curious? Then he would not know-<p>

No.

He shook his head, driving the thoughts away. He was going to fine. He was going to get the power back on, and get back to the kids as he had promised. Everything was going to be okay. Right?

He felt his hands brush against the ladder and slowly climbed up. Muldoon and Wu had everything under control at the lodge, and the kids were fine, there were no raptors anywhere near him, or the kids, they were all at the lodge.

He froze at the top of the ladder. Another sound was heard above the generator. But what? He climbed up onto the catwalk, and listened closely. It sounded like shouting. He squinted in the darkness. He looked out of the corner of his eye and noticed a truck on the far side of the room it seemed to coming from there. He saw glowing green shapes, moving in the darkness. The sound defiantly was coming from there.

He hesitated, before making his way towards the truck.

* * *

><p>Tails found the silence chilling.<p>

The velociraptor was six feet tall, and powerfully built to, although its strong legs and tail were hidden by the tables. Tails could only see the strong upper torso, the two forearms held tightly alongside the body, the claws dangling. The raptor was alert; as it came forward, it looked from side to side, moving its head with jerking movements, bobbing up and down as it walked. It was rather like a bird.

A gigantic, silent bird of prey.

The dining room was still dark, but apparently the raptor could see just fine, it moved forward steadily. From time to time, it would duck its head under the table. Tails heard a sniffing sound. Then the raptor would snap up, jerking back and forth like a bird's.

But it wasn't a bird. Tails reminded himself miserably, it was a dangerous dinosaur. It may have been only yesterday, but Tails could clearly remember the attempt the raptors had done back at the animal pen. But there was no pen now, the raptor could easily kill him.

Tails watched until he was sure the velociraptor was coming toward the kitchen. Was it following their scent? All the dinosaur books said that dinosaurs had poor smell, but this one seemed to be just fine. Besides, what did the damn books know? This right here was the real thing.

Coming toward _him_.

He hurried away from the door.

"Is something out there?" Cream asked.

Tails did not respond as he pulled her to the edge of the room, and pushed her under a table in the corner, behind a large waste bin. He leaned close to her, whispering sternly, "_Stay here!" _The he ran for the fridge.

He grabbed a handful of cold steaks and hurried towards the door. He quietly set one down, then he backed up a few steps, before placing another one…

Through the night vision, Tails could see Cream starting to peek out from behind the bin. He waved her back. He placed the third steak, then the forth, until there was a trail leading to the freezer.

The hissing was very clear now, and then the clawed had gripped the door, and the big head peeked through the window peering cautiously around.

The raptor paused at the entrance of the kitchen.

Tails stood in a half crouch at the back of the room, near the far leg of the steel worktable. But he had no time to find a better way to hide. His head had shoulders peeked over the tabletop. He was clear view of the predator.

Slowly, Tails lowered his body, sinking beneath the table. The raptor jerked its head around, looking directly at him.

Tails froze. He was still exposed. _Don't move,_ he thought.

It stood motionless at the doorway.

Sniffing.

It's darker here, Tails thought. He can't see so well, that's why he's cautious.

With the raptor now in the kitchen, Tails could smell the musty odor of the reptile. Through the goggle, he saw the dinosaur silently yawn, throwing its snout back. Its sharp teeth were green through the goggles. The raptor looked forward again, jerking its head this way and that. The big eyes swiveling about, it was all rather terrifying.

Tails felt his heart pounding. He was half expecting it to leap out and fall on the ground his heart pounding so hard. Somehow, it was worse to be confronted by and animal like this in a kitchen, instead of the open plains or a vast forest. The size, the quick movements, the odor, the hissing breath…

Up close, it was much, much, more frightening than the tyrannosaur. The tyrannosaur was huge, and powerful true, but it wasn't especially smart. The raptor, not the velociraptor was man-size, and it was quick, and intelligent; Tails feared those searching eyes almost as much as the teeth and claws.

The raptor sniffed. It stepped forward-right towards Cream! It must smell her! Tails's heart skipped a beat.

The raptor stopped. It bent over slowly.

_It found the first steak._

Tails wanted to bend down, and look under the table, but he didn't dare. He stood frozen in a half crouch, listening to the crunching sound in the air. The raptor had eaten the steak.

Bones and all.

The raptor raised it's head, looking around. It sniffed. It noticed the second steak and moved quickly over to it. It bent over.

Silence.

The raptor did not eat the steak.

The head came back up. Tails could feel his legs begin to burn from the position and the tension, but he didn't dare move.

Why didn't the animal eat the steak? A dozen thoughts whizzed through his brain. It didn't like the coldness. It didn't like the taste of beef. It didn't like the fact the meat was not freshly killed. It smelled a trap. It smelled Cream. It smelled Tails. It saw Tails-

The raptor moved, much quicker now. It found the third steak, and moved on.

Tails held his breath. The dinosaur was just a few feet away now. Tails could make out the twitches in the muscle. The…The blood…Oh sweet chaos… The blood crusted on the claws of the hand. The fine spotted pattern, and the folds of skin.

The velociraptor sniffed. It jerked its head, and looked right at Tails. Tails forced a gasp of fright from escaping. His body was rigid and tense. Oh God he was going to die. The reptile's eye moved scanning the room. It narrow, and there was another sniff.

He's got me, Tails thought.

Then the head jerked back forward, and the animal went onto the fifth steak. Tails felt faint, and a wave of relief. But it was quickly gone, he was not out of this yet. Tails kept thinking, Cream please don't move. Just don't move, not matter what happens don't move.

The raptor sniffed the steak…and again it moved on. It was now at the open freezer. Tails could still see the smoke billowing out, curling around the animals feet. One big clawed foot lifted, then came down again, silent as a sigh. The dinosaur hesitated. Too cold, Tails thought. He won't go in there, it's too cold. He won't go it, he won't go in he won't go in…

And right then, with all the luck in the universe blessing Tails.

The raptor went in.

The head disappeared, then the body, then that stiff tail.

Now!

Tails sprinted forward, slamming his body as hard as he could against the stainless-steel door of the freezer, slamming it shut. But it didn't close all the way. It slammed on the tip of the tail. The door wouldn't shut! Damn it all! The velociraptor roared, a terrifying loud sound scaring Tails to the inner core of his being. Inadvertently, Tails took a step back-the tail was gone! He slammed the door shut and heard it click! Closed!

"Cream! Cream! He screamed. He heard the raptor pounding against the door, felt it thumping against the steel. He knew there was a handle on the other side. If the raptor hit it…it would open the door. Tails wasn't strong, he could hold back the raptor for long, the was impossible. They had to get the door locked. "Cream!"

Cream was there in a hearbeat, "What?"

Tails leaned against the horizontal door handle, holding it shut. "There's a pin! A little pin! Get the pin!"

The raptor roared like a lion, the sound muffled by the thick steel. It crashed its entire body against the door.

"I can't see anything!" Cream screamed.

The pin was dangling just below the door handle, swinging wildly on a metal chain. "It's right there!"

"I can't see it!" she cried with a sob. Then it hit Tails. She wasn't wearing the goggles.

"Feel for it! You can do it!"

He saw he little hand reaching up, shaking, touching his, groping for the pin that could save them. She was so close to him, he could feel how frightened she was. Her breath was in short panicky gasps as she felt for the pin. The velociraptor slammed against the door and it opened Tails gasped –Chaos, _it opened _– but the animal wasn't expecting that, and had already turned back for another go. Tails lunged forward and slammed it back shut. Cream scrambled forward reaching up in the darkness.

"I have it!" Cream cried, clutching the pin in her hand, and she pushed it though the hole with some difficulty. It slid out again.

"From the top, put it in _from the top!_"

She held it again, lifting it on the chain, swinging it over the handle, and down. Into the hole.

_Locked._

The velociraptor roared. Tails and Cream stepped back from the door as the dinosaur slammed into it again. With each impact, the heavy steel wall hinges creaked, but they held. Tails didn't think the animal could possibly open the door.

The raptor was locked in.

"I hope he freezes to death in there," Cream said, tears of fright staining her face.

" Me too," Tails said.

The raptor roared again, making odd noises.

Tails ignored them. He gave a long sigh, and gave Cream a comforting hug, "Let's get out of here." He said.

He took her hand, and together they ran.

**I just had to do a kitchen scene I'm sorry XD. Just had to, wouldn't be Jurassic Park without a raptor or two in the kitchen now would it?**

**What was it that Muldoon said a chapter or so ago? The kids should be fine in the kitchen? Well he was wrong there wasn't he? Well on the bright side we know where the last raptor went. Or _was _that the last raptor? Hmm?**

**Anyway, I think Sonic Grant hit his head a little harder than we thought, heading towards a noise with nothing but glowing green shapes in the darkness. Now who in their right of mind would do that? Why Sonic of course! Could it possibly be the raptor that caused Mighty and Omega's demise? Well you are just going to have to wait for the next chapter :)**

**I aplogoize if this chapter was short, they seemed to be getting shorter as I go. But it was a good chapter right? So that makes up for it :)**

**Hope to see you soon, with the next thrilling installement of Jurassic Park!**


	23. Back To Control!

Chapter 21

**Back To Control!**

Half way to the truck, Sonic began to wonder if going to explore the mysterious noise was really a good idea. He was hoping to find workers or someone friendly…. But after a moment of thought, what if it was a raptor? The glowing green shapes scattered as he approached the truck. He walked around the truck searching and listening, the noise was gone now.

Sonic tapped his chin, could it have been those green things? What did they want with the truck. He walked around and opened the front passenger door.

A boot swung outwards towards his face.

Sonic yelped, and attempted to avoid the foot, but the boot made contact with his shoulder. And boy did it hurt like hell. "Augh!"

"Oh my God! Grant is that you?"

Sonic looked up, hands above his head in a protective shield, he inspected the person in the truck, "Gennaro? Mighty Gennaro?"

The armadillo climbed out of the truck. "I thought you were dead! Muldoon said you might have survived but I wasn't sure."

Sonic frowned as he rubbed his shoulder, "Well, yes. I made it. So did the kids."

Gennaro grinned, "The kids made it? That has to be the best damn news I have heard all weekend."

Sonic nodded, inspecting his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Gennaro asked. "I thought you might have been a raptor."

"You kick hard." Sonic mumbled. Gennaro just smirked.

"Come on," Sonic said, " We have to get the power back on in the control room."

Gennaro walked after him "You got the generator fired up?"

Sonic nodded, "Yes, we need to hurry, and get the power back on. So we can stop raptors from getting into the lodge, and contact the boat before it reaches the mainland."

"What boat?"

"Long story. What were you doing in the truck anyway? You were surround by glowing green shapes."

"You should have seen them," Gennaro said, as Sonic led him back out of the maintenance building. "There must have been two dozen of them. Compys. I had to crawl into the truck to get away from them. They were all over the windshield. Just sitting there like buzzards. But they ran away when you came over."

"They are scavengers," Sonic said. "They won't attack anything that's moving or looks strong. They attack things that are dead, or almost dead. Anyway, unmoving." He glanced down a the lawyers right hand, stained red, "What happened you your hand?"

"I was attacked by a raptor."

They were almost to the door, "What happened to raptor that attacked you?" Sonic said.

"I don't know," Gennaro answered.

"Did it leave?"

"I didn't see. I got away, I think because it was injured. I think Muldoon shot it in the leg and it was bleeding while it was in here. Then…I don't know. Maybe it went back outside. Maybe it died in here. I didn't see."

"And maybe it's still in here." Sonic said.

* * *

><p>Charmy stared out the lodge window at the raptors beyond the fence. They still seemed playful, making mock attacks at Shelly. The behavior had continued for a long time now, and it occurred to him that it might be too long. It almost seemed as if they were trying to keep Shelly's attention, in the same way that she was trying to keep theirs.<p>

And that worried him.

And though Charmy Wu would never admit, the discovery that dinosaurs were breeding represented a tremendous validation of his work. A breeding animal was effective in a fundamental way; it implied that Charmy had put all the pieces together correctly. That he had re-created an animal millions of years old, with such precision that the creature could even reproduce itself.

But, still, looking at the raptors outside, he was troubled by the persistenve of their behavior. Raptors were intelligent, and intelligent animals got bored quickly. Intelligent animals also formed plans, and-

Harding came out into the hallway, from Malcolm's room, he was pale. "Where is Shelly?"

"Still outside, why?"

"Get here in her now. The raptors have left the skylight."

"When?" Charmy said, rushing for the door.

"Just a moment ago," Silver said.

Charmy through the door open, "Shelly! Get in here!"

She looked at him, puzzled. "There's no problem, everything's under control…"

"Now!"

She shook her head defiantly, "I know what I'm doing," she said.

Harding shifter nervously. He didn't like Charmy standing there with the door open, and he was about to say so when Charmy yelled again.

"Now, Shelly damn-"

A shadow descended from above, and before Silver could comprehend. A raptors head was in the door. Charmy screamed and went to close the door. But the raptor latched onto Charmy's arm, reaching in with its deadly claws and tearing at his chest. Shelly was screaming outside.

Silver lunged forward, "Charmy!" He wrapped his arm around the bee's waist, and used his other hand in attempt to close the door. The raptor was strong; he could not hold it back forever. Charmy was screaming in pain, crying out every time the claw came down, tearing away the flesh on his chest. Silver gasped in horror, as ever so slowly, the velociraptor began to pull.

_It was dragging them both out the door._

Silver grunted, digging his heels into the carpet. No, he was not letting these bastards get Charmy. "Knuckles! Amy!" he screamed, He pulled as hard as he could but they were still sliding out the door. "Help!"

He looked around desperately. There on the table by the door, was a vase full of flowers. But it seemed so out of reach. He released his grip on the door. Reaching out with all he had, "Augh!"

His finger brushed against the glass, he had it!

He yanked it off the table, flowers and water spilling out, and swung it at the raptor.

The glass made contact with the raptors head. Shattering on impact. The raptor, startled and enraged, roared, releasing its grip on Charmy. Knuckles ran in, as Silver and Charmy tumbled to the floor. He lunged forward, slamming the door shut, leaving the raptor roaring in rage outside.

He peeked out the window, Shelly had stopped screaming and started to run along the fence line. He pressed his back against the door, dizzy with horror. It had all happened so fast.

"Charmy!"

Knuckles shaken out of his shock, looked down. Silver kneeled over the bee. Both were covered in blood, but all of it was Charmy's. Charmy had stopped screaming, and now lay limp on the floor.

Knuckles hurried over and checked his pulse. It was faint. He closed his eyes and sighed. "He's alive, barely."

"How are we going to get the power on," Silver said, "Charmy was the only one who knew how."

Knuckles picked Charmy up, "I don't know," He carried him towards Malcolm's room "Did the raptors jump down from the roof?"

Silver nodded. He went toward the window and looked out, and he saw that the three raptors outside the fence were running away. However, they weren't following Shelly.

They were going back, toward the visitor center.

* * *

><p>Sonic came to the edge of the maintenance building and peered forward, in the fog. He froze.<p>

"What's wrong?" Gennaro whispered.

"Shh," He could hear the snarls of raptors, and they seemed to be coming closer. Now he could see their bodies rush past him. They were going to the visitor center. Oh chaos.

_The kids._

He looked back at Gennaro.

Gennaro shook his head, no.

Sonic leaned close whispering into the armadillo's ear, "No choice, the kids are in there, and we have to get the power back on."

Sonic turned and set out into the fog.

After a moment, Gennaro followed.

* * *

><p>Shelly didn't stop to think. When the raptors dropped inside the fence to attack Charmy, she just turned and ran, as fast as she could, toward the far end of the lodge. There was a space fifteen feet wide between the fence and the lodge. Hearing Charmy's screams tore her heart in two, but what could she do. When a raptor attacks, there is no stopping….<p>

She ran, not hearing the animals pursue her, just hearing her own panicked breath. She rounded the corner and saw a tree growing by the side of the building, and leapt, grabbing a branch and swinging up, the rough skin of the tree scrapping her already bruised hands. She didn't feel panic. She felt more of an exhilaration as she kicked and saw her legs rise up in front of her face, and she hooked her legs over a branch farther up, tightened her gut, and with a grunt, pulled herself up.

She was already twelve feet off the ground, and the raptors still weren't following her. She was beginning to feel pretty good, when she spotted the first one at the base of the tree. It's mouth and claws were covered in blood.

Charmy.

She kept going fast, hand over hand, just searching for the next branch and going. She could almost see the top of the building. She looked down again.

The raptors were climbing the tree.

Damn.

Now she was level with the rooftop, see could see the gravel only a few feet away, and the glass pyramids of the skylight, sticking up in the mist. There was a door on the roof, she could get inside. In a single heave, she flung herself through the air, and landed sprawling on the gravel. She scraped her face, but somehow the only sensation was exhilaration, no pain; as if it was a kind of game she was playing, a game she intended to win. She ran for the door that led to the stairwell. Behind her, she could hear the raptors shaking the branches of the tree. They were still in the tree.

She reached the door, and twisted the knob.

The door was locked.

It took a moment for her to realize it. It cut through her euphoria like a knife. The door was locked. She was on the roof and couldn't get down. _The door was locked._

She pounded on the door in frustration, and then she ran for the far side of the roof, hoping to find a way down. But there was only the green outline of the swimming pool through the mist. All around the pool was concrete decking. Eight, ten feet of concrete, bone crushing concrete. Too much for her to jump across. No other trees to climb down. No stairs. No fire escape.

Nothing.

Shelly turned slowly around, and saw the raptors jump onto the roof with ease. She ran to the far end of the roof, hoping there might be another door there, but there wasn't.

The raptors slowly came toward her, stalking her, slipping silently among the glass pyramids. She looked down. The edge of the pool was ten feet away.

Too far.

The raptors were closer now, starting to move apart, and illogically she thought: _Isn't this always the way? Some little mistake screws it all up. _She felt giddy, still on and adrenalin rush, and somehow, she couldn't believe these animals were going to get her, she couldn't believe that her life would end this way. It didn't seem possible. She was envolped in a kind of protective cheerfulness. She just didn't believe it would happen.

The raptors snarled. Shelly backed away, moving to the far end of the roof. She took a breath, and then sprinted toward the edge. As she raced toward the edge, she saw the swimming pool, and she knew it was too far away but she thought, _What the hell, _and she leapt into space, closing her eyes.

And fell.

With a stinging slap, she felt herself enveloped in coldness. She was underwater, she had done it! She came to the surface and looked up at the roof, and saw the raptors looking down at her. She knew however, if she could make the jump, so could the raptors. She splashed in the water and thought, _Can raptors swim? _But they probably could. They probably swam like crocodiles.

To her surprise the raptors turned away from the edge. Then she heard Silver calling, "Sattler?" and she realized he had opened the roof door. The raptors must be going toward him.

Quickly, she climbed out of the pool and rushed toward the lodge.

* * *

><p>When Silver had heard the pounding on the roof door, He had raced up the stairs two steps at a time, if the raptors were up there with Sattler she would need to get in fast. He tore open the door without thinking. "Sattler!" he shouted. And then he stopped. Mist blew eerily among the pyramids on the roof. Sattler and the raptors were not in sight.<p>

"Sattler!"

He was so preoccupied trying to find Sattler that it took a moment to realize his mistake. He should be able to see the animals, he thought. In the next instant the clawed forearm smashed around the side of the door, catching him the chest with tearing pain. He shoved against the door, crying out, but the forearm wouldn't budge.

The claw caught him one more time, before he slammed his full body against the door. It slammed against the raptors forearm, and it yanked back with an angry roar. The door slammed shut with a loud bang. Downstairs he heard Knuckles shouting, "She's here, she's already inside!"

From the other side of the door, the raptor snarled. Silver leaned heavily against the door and slid to the floor coughing.

Shelly ran up the stairs, "Harding! Are you alright!" The mongoose was dripping wet, and smelled of chlorine. It didn't take much for Silver to figure what happened.

"I'm fine," he coughed, "Just a little torn up."

"Come on," Shelly said, gently pulling him to his feet, "We need to go tend to Charmy."

* * *

><p>"Where are we going?" Cream said. They were on the second floor of the visitor center. A glass-walled corridor ran the length of the building.<p>

"To the control room," Tails said.

"Where is that?"

"Down here someplace if I remember." Tails looked at the names stenciled on the many doors as he went past them. They seemed to be offices: PARK WARDEN…GUEST SERVICES…GENERAL MANAGER….COMPTROLLER.

They came to a glass partition marked with a sign:

**Closed Area**

**Authorized Personnel Only**

**Beyond this Point**

There was a slot for a security card, but Tails just slid it open.

"How come it opened?"

"The power is out remember?" Tails said.

"Why are we going to the control room?"

"To find a radio. We need to call somebody."

Beyond the glass door the hallway continued. Tails remembered this area; he had seen it earlier, during the tour. Cream trotted along at his side. In the distance, they heard te snarling of raptors. The animals seemed to be approaching. Then Tails heard them slamming against the glass downstairs.

"They're out there…" Cream whispered her face pale.

"Don't worry."

"What are they doing here?" she said.

"Never mind that now."

PARK SUPERVISOR…OPERATIONS….MAIN CONTROL…

"Here," Tails said. He pushed open the door. The main control room was as he had seen it before. In the center of the room was console with four chairs and four computer monitors. The room was entirely dark except for the monitors, which all showed a series of colored rectangles.

"So where is the radio?" Cream said.

But Tails had forgotten all about the radio. He moved forward, staring at the computer screens. The screens were on! That could only mean-

"The power must be back on…"

"Eww!" Cream shrieked

"What?"

"I was standing on someone's _finger_!" she said.

Tails hadn't seen a body when they came in. He looked back and saw there was just an finger, lying on the floor.

"That is really _disgusting." _Cream gagged.

"Just ignore it," Tails said.

He peered closely at the monitor. There were rows of colored labels on the screen. One in big bold letters said, JURASSIC PARK - SYSTEM STARTUP

"You better not fool around with that, Tails." She said.

"Don't worry, I won't."

He had seen complicated computers before, like the ones that were installed in the buildings his father worked on. Those computers controlled everything from the elevators and security to the heating and cooling systems. There was usually a help label, if you needed to learn about the system. But he saw no help label here. He looked again, to be sure.

But then he saw something else: numerals clicking in the upper left corner of the screen. They read 10:47:22 . Tails realized it was the time. There was only thirteen minutes left for the boat-but he was more worried about the people in the lodge at the moment.

There was a static crackle. He turned, and saw Cream holding a radio. She was twisting the knobs and dials. "How does it work?" she said. "I can't make it work."

"Cream, give me that!"

"It's mine1 I found it!"

"Give it to me, Cream!"

"I get to use it first!"

"Cream!"

Suddenly, the radio crackled. "_What the hell is going on!" _said Muldoon's voice.

Surprised, Cream dropped the radio to the floor.

* * *

><p>Sonic ducked down, crouching among the numerous palm trees. Through the mist ahead, he could see the raptors hopping and snarling, butting their heads against the glass of the visitor center. But, between snarls, they would fall silent and cock their heads, as if they were listening to something distant. Then they would make little whimpering sounds.<p>

"What are they doing?" Mighty asked.

"It looks like they're trying to get into the cafeteria," Sonic said slowly.

"What's in the cafeteria?"

"I left the kids there…" Sonic said.

"Can they break through that glass?"

"I don't think so, no."

Sonic watched, and now he heard the crackle of a distant radio, and the raptors began hopping in a more agitated way. One after the other, they began to jump higher and higher, until finally he saw the first of them leap lightly onto the second-floor balcony, and from there move inside the second floor of the visitor center.

* * *

><p>In the control room, on the second floor, Tails snatched up the radio after Cream dropped it. He pressed the button, "Hello? Hello?"<p>

"-s that you, Tails?" it was Muldoon.

"It's me, yes."

"Where are you?"

"In the control room. The power is on!"

"That's great, Tails." Muldoon said.

"Of someone will tell me how to turn the computer on, I can restore the power. I'll do it."

There was a silence.  
>"Hell?" Tails said, "Did you hear me?"<p>

"We have a problem there Tails," Muldoon said.

"What do you mean problem? What's wrong, I can get the power on! Just guide me through." Tails said confused.

"You see," Muldoon coughed, "The only person who knew is seriously injured Tails. He's unconscious right now, and I don't think he'll be waking up soon. Nobody here knows how to do that. How to turn the computer on."

Tails said, "What, are you kidding? No one knows?" It seemed impossible.

"No," A pause. "I think it's got something to do with the main grid. Turning on the main grid….You know anything about computers Tails?"

Tails glanced at the computer screen. Cream nudged him. "Tell him no, Tails." She said.

"Yes, some. I know something." Tails said.

"Might as well try then," Muldoon, sighed. "Nobody here knows what to do. And if Grant gets there, he'll try to help, but he doesn't know a thing about computers."

"Okay," Tails said. "I'll try." He clicked off the radio and stared at the little screen, studying it.

"Tails," Cream said, "You don't know what to do."

"Yes I do."

"If you know, then do it," Cream said.

"Just a minute." As a way to get started, he pulled the chair close to the keyboard and pressed the cursor keys. Those keys moved the cursor around the computer. But nothing happened. Then he pushed other keys. But the screen remained unchanged.

"Well?" she said.

"Something's wrong," Tails said, frowning.

"You just don't know, Tails," she said.

He examined the computer more closely. It had a regular keyboard like any other computer. However, the monitor was different. Tails noticed at the edge of the screen were little faint pinpoints of red light.

Red light, all around the borders of the screen….What could it be? He moved his finger toward the light and saw the soft red glow on his skin.

Could it be?

He touched the screen and hear a beep.

**YOU ALREADY HAVE ACCESS**

**MAKE YOUR SELECTION FROM THE MAIN SCREEN**

The message box disappeared, and the original screen returned.

"What happened?" Cream said, "You touched something. What did you touch?"

Of course! He had touched the screen. It was a touch screen computer! The red lights must be infrared sensors. He touched the **RESET/REVERT** button.

Instantly the screen changed with a new message.

**THE COMPUTER IS NOW RESET**

**MAKE YOUR SLECTION FROM THE MAIN SCREEN**

Over the radio, they could hear the sound of raptors snarling. "I want to see," Cream said. "You should try **VIEW**."

"No Cream."

"Well, I want **VIEW**." She said. And before he could stop her she had pressed the **VIEW** button. The screen changed.

"Uh-oh," she said.

"Cream would you cut it out."

"Look! She said, "It worked! Ha!"

Around the room, the monitors showed quickly changing views of the different parts of the park. Most images were misty grey from the fog. But one showed the outside of the lodge, with a raptor on the roof, then another switched to bright sunlight, showing the bow of a ship, bright sunlight-

"Wait what was that!" Tails said leaning forward.

"What?"

"That picture!"

But the image was gone, and now they were seeing the inside of the lodge, one room after another, and then he saw Malcolm, lying in a bed-

"Stop it," Cream said. "I see them!"

Tails toughed the screen in several places, and got submenus, then more submenus.

"Wait," Cream said, "You're confusing it…"

"Will you shut up! You don't know a thing about computers! Just give me a second!"

Now he had a list of monitors on the screen. One of them was marked **SAFARI LODGE LV2 – 4. **Another was **REMOTE: SHIPBOARD (VND). **He pressed the screen several times.

Video images came up on monitors around the room. One showed the bow of the supply ship, and the ocean ahead. In the distance, Tails saw land- buildings along a shore, and a harbor. He recognized it because he had flown over it in the helicopter the day before. The ship seemed minutes from landing.

But his attention was drawn by the next screen, which showed the roof of the safari lodge, in gray mist. The raptors were mostly hidden behind the pyramids, but their heads bobbed up and down, coming in and out of view.

And then, on the third monitor, he could see inside a room. Malcolm was lying in a bed, Dr. Sattler stood next to him. They both were looking upward. As they watched, Muldoon walked into the room, and joined them looking up with an expression of concern.

"They see us?" Cream asked.

"I don't think so."

The radio crackled. On the screen, Muldoon lifted the radio to his lips, "Hello Tails?"

"I here," Tails said.

"Ah, we haven't got a whole lot of time," Muldoon said, his voice nervous. "Better get that power grid on." And then Tails heard the raptors snarl, and saw one of the long heads duck down through the glass, briefly entering the picture from the top, snapping its jaws.

Tails quickly turned to the computer, and suddenly felt very scared.

"Hurry, Tails! Cream said, "_Get the power on!"_

**Cliffhanger!**

**...**

***Looks at first chapter, looks at this one, looks back at first chapter.* Hmmm...*Coughs* **

**Someone remind me to go back to the first chapter and ah..."Fix"...My reference chart, because I clearly remember say, *Takes a deep breath* "WAHH I"M KILLING CHARMY" **

**And I didn't.**

**Guess this chapter was full of surprises wasn't it? **

**No I'm not bringing Omega back,**

**But Mighty's back! Bet you didn't see that coming did ya. ;D **

**Things are really heating up now. The boat has almost docked. The raptors are in the visitor center with the kids. The other two raptors are almost into the lodge. Chamry is injured and know one knows how to the power back on! Tails is they only one who can!**

**I'll be back soon! Hope you enjoyed this thrilling installment. Cause things are gonna get more tense than ever before!**

**See you soon!**

**-SilverSilence**


	24. The Grid

Chapter 23

**The Grid**

Tails suddenly found himself very lost in a tangled series of monitor control screens, as he tried to get back to the main screen. Most systems had a single command that took you to the main page, but this one didn't-not that he could see anyway. He could not find the help commands either. On top of that, it did not help that Cream was jumping up and down yelling into his ear. It was all making him nervous!

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, he was back at the main screen. He wasn't sure how he got there, but it was back. He paused, now what? He searched for a command.

"Do something Tails!"

"I'm trying! I trying to find help." He pushed **TEMPLATE-MAIN. **The screen filled with a complicated diagram.

No good. No good at all.

He pushed **COMMON INTERFACE. **The screen shifted.

"What's that?" Cream asked, eyeing the screen. "Why aren't you turning on the power, Tails?"

He ignored her. Maybe help on this system was called "info." He pushed **INFO. **Again, the screen changed. Into another window.

"Ta-ils," Cream wailed, but he already pushed **FIND. **He got yet another useless window. So he hit the back button.

On the radio, he heard Muldoon say, "How's it coming, Tails?" He didn't bother to answer. Frantic, he pushed buttons one after another.

Suddenly, without warning, the main screen was back

He studied the screen. There were so many things on it. Everything from Electrical, to Setgrids. Safety and Critical Locks might be important. He heard the growl of raptors. He had to make a choice, now! He pressed **SETGRIDS DNL, **and groaned at the sight of a complicated menu.

He stared at the list. He didn't know what to do. He pushed **STANDARD PARAMETERS. **

Another list.

Tails shook his head in frustration. It took him a moment to realize that he had just gotten valuable information. One items said: Lodge Grids F4. He now knew the grid coordinates for the lodge! He pushed grid F4.

A screen popped up.

POWER GRID F4 (SAFARI LODGE)

COMMAND CANNOT BE EXECUTED. ERROR-506

(POWER INCOMPATIBLE WITH COMMAND ERROR.)

"It's not working," Cream said, worried.

"I know!" he pushed another button. The screen flashed the same message.

Tails took a deep breath and tried to stay calm, to think it through. For some reason he was getting a consistent error message whenever he tried to turn on a grid. It was saying the power was incompatible with the command he was giving. But what did that mean? Why was the power incompatible?

"Ta-ils…." Cream whispered, tugging his arm.

"Not _now, _Cream." He hissed.

"_Yes, now." _She said, and she pulled him away from the screen and with a shaky hand pointed towards the door.

Tails was about to snap, but then he noticed. He could hear the snarling of raptors.

It was coming from the hallway.

* * *

><p>In the skylight above Malcolm's bed, the raptors had almost bitten through the second metal bar. They could now poke their heads completely through the shattered glass, and lunge and snarl at the people below. Than after a they would pull back, and resume chewing on the metal.<p>

Malcolm said, "It won't be long now. Four, five minutes." He pressed the button on the radio, "Tails, are you there? Tails?"

There was no answer.

* * *

><p>Tails slipped out the door and saw the velociraptor, down at the far end of the corridor, standing by the balcony. He stared in shock. How had it gotten out of the freezer?<p>

Then, as he watched, a second one appeared on the balcony, and he understood. The raptors hadn't come from the freezer at all. It had come from outside. It had _jumped _from the ground below. The second raptor landed silently, perfectly balanced on the railing. Tails couldn't believe it. The bug animal had jumped ten feet straight up. More than ten feet! Their legs must be incredibly powerful.

Cream whispered, "I thought you said they couldn't-

"Ssshh." Tails was trying to think, but he watched with a kind of fascinated dread as the third raptor hopped up. The animals milled about for a moment before they began to move in single file.

Coming toward him and Cream.

Quietly, Tails pushed against the door at his back, to re-enter into the safety (hopefully) of the control room. But the door was stuck. He pushed harder.

"We're locked out," Cream whispered. "Look." She pointed to the slot for the security card alongside the door. A bright red dot glowed. Somehow the security doors had activated. "Tails, what are we gonna do! We're locked out!"

Tails looked down the corridor. He saw several more doors, all with red dots on their security slots. That meant all of them were locked. There was nowhere else to go.

His eyes shifted down to a slumped shape on the floor at the far end of the corridor. It was a dead guard. A white security card was clipped to his belt.

"Come on," he whispered. They ran for the guard. Tails snatched up the card, and turned back. But of course the raptors had seen them. They snarled, and clocked they way back to the control room. They began to spread apart, fanning out in the hallway to surround Tails and Cream. Their heads began ducking rhythmically.

They were going to attack.

Tails did the only thing he could do. Using the card, he opened the nearest door off the hallway and pushed Cream through. As the door began to close slowly behind them, the raptors hissed and charged.

* * *

><p>Shadow Malcolm drew each breath as it it might be his last. He watched the raptors with dull eyes. Silver frowned as he took his blood pressure, his frowned deepened, and he took it again. Shelly Sattler sat on the floor, wrapped up in and blanket. Muldoon sat on the floor, propped against the wall, giving comforting squeezes to Amy's hand who sat with her eyes closed. Charmy lay on the other bed, eyes closed, his breath labored. Hammond was staring upward, not speaking. They all listened, listening for a sound from the radio.<p>

"What happened to Tails?" Big Hammond said, "Still no word."

"We haven't heard anything," Amy whispered.

Malcolm said, "Ugly, aren't they. Truly ugly."

Hammond shook his head. "Who could have imagined it would turn out this way."

Shelly said, "Apparently Malcolm did."

"I didn't imagine it," Shadow said, "I _calculated _it."

Hammond sighed, "No more of this nonsense, please. He's been saying 'I told you so' for hours. But nobody ever wanted this to happen."

"It isn't a matter of wanting it or not," Shadow said, eyes closed. He spoke slowly, through the drugs. "It's a matter of what you think you can accomplish. When the hunter goes out in the rain forest to seek food for his family, does he expect to control nature? Of course not. No. He imagines that nature is beyond him. Beyond his understanding. Beyond his control. He's at the mercy of it."

"But you decide you won't be at the mercy of nature. You decide you'll control nature, and from that moment on you're in deep trouble, because you can't do it. Yet you have made systems that require you to do it. And you just can't do it-and you never have-and you never will. Don't confuse things. You can make a boat, but you can't make the ocean. You can make and airplane, but you can't make the air. Your powers are much less, than your dreams of reason would have you believe."

"He's lost me," Hammond said, with a sigh. "Where did Tails go? He seemed such a responsible boy."

"I'm sure he's trying to get control of the situation," Amy said.

"Like everybody else," Knuckles added.

"And Grant, too. What happened to Grant?"

* * *

><p>Sonic reached the rear door to the visitor center, the same on he had left twenty minutes before. He tugged on the handle: it was locked. Then he saw the little red light. The security door were reactivated! Damn it! He ran around to the front of the building, and went through the shattered front doors into the main lobby, stopping at the guard desk where he had been earlier. He could hear the dry hiss of his radio, but nothing else. He went to the cafeteria.<p>

Opening the door, he peeked inside. "Kids?"

In the dark room of the he saw no children. However, a strange noise emitted from the kitchen.

"What is that?"

Sonic nearly jumped out of his skin and glanced back at Mighty, "Chaos, don't scare me like that!" he hissed he looked forward again, "Decided to come I see."

"Need to protect the kids, it's the right thing to do, …raptors or no." Mighty shrugged. "But what's that noise?"

"I don't know, maybe it's the kids."

The two adults walked into kitchen, it was much darker in here. But Sonic couldn't see anyone anyway.

"You don't think they might be in that freezer over there do you?" Mighty asked.

"What! Why do you think that?" Sonic said.

"Because the sound is coming from the freezer, and maybe the kids hid in there to hide and got stuck." Mighty suggested.

Sonic moved toward the door, it was true a strange muffled noise was coming from inside. He placed his hand on the locked handle. And his other on the pin. How did the pin slip in anyway?

"Kids is that-"

A screech rang out and something slammed against the door. Sonic jumped back, and Mighty cursed, "Shit! What the hell is that!"

Sonic listened as the animal roared, "It's a raptor."

"What the _hell_ is a raptor doing in the freezer?"

"The kids must have locked in here somehow…." Sonic said astonished.

"How did they swing that?" Mighty thought aloud.

"I don't know but we should get out of here." Sonic said, "This raptor must have called for help somehow. That's why the others came back to the lodge. They're trying to get into the kitchen."

"But, _we're_ in the kitchen…." Mighty stated slowly.

"Yep."

"We should defiantly get out of here right now then."

"Exactly."

They moved quickly out. Going upstairs, but came to the glass panel marked **CLOSED AREA and** the door was locked. Sonic frowned, he needed to get a security card to go farther.

Sonic couldn't get in.

From somewhere inside the hallway, he heard the raptors snarling.

* * *

><p>The leather reptile skin touched Tails's face, the claws tore his shirt, and Tails fell onto his back, shrieking in fright.<p>

"Tails!" Cream yelled.

Tails scrambled to his feet again. The baby velociraptor perched on his shoulder, chirping and squeaking in panic. Tails and Cream were in the nursery. There were toys on the floor: a rolling yellow ball, a doll, a plastic rattle. Not something, a raptor would really seem to play with.

"It's the baby raptor," Cream said, pointing to the animal gripping Tails's shoulder.

The little –and _way_ less deadly- raptor burrowed its head into Tails's neck. The poor thing was probably hungry, Tails thought.

Cream came closer and the baby hopped onto her shoulder. It rubbed against her neck. She giggled, "I like this one. Is it scared?"

"I don't know." Tails said.

She passed the raptor back. The baby was chirping and hopping up and down on his shoulder excitedly. No doubt about it, the little thing was worked up and-

"Tails!" Cream whispered.

The door to the hallway hadn't closed behind them after they had entered the nursery. Now the big – and not so friendly – raptors were coming through. First one, then a second one.

Clearly agitated, the baby chirped and bounced on Tails's shoulder. Tails knew he and Cream had to get away. Maybe the baby would distract the adults. It _was _a baby raptor after all. he plucked the creature off his shoulder and threw it across the room. The baby landed on its feet, and scurried between the legs of the adults. The first raptor lowered its snout, sniffed the baby delicately and full of curiosity.

Tails took Creams hand and pulled her deeper into the nursery. He had to find a door, a way to get out-

A high-pitched shriek emitted into the air. Tails looked back to see the baby in the jaws of the adult. A second raptor came forward and tore at the limbs of the infant, trying to pull it from the mouth of the first. The two raptors fought over the baby as it squealed. Blood splattered in large drops onto floor.

"They _ate _him!" Cream gasped.

The raptors fought over the remains of the baby, rearing back and butting heads. Tails found a door- it was unlocked- and went through, pulling Cream after him.

They went into another room, and from the deep green glow he realized it was the deserted DNA-extraction laboratory, the rows of microscopes showed high resolution images of bugs. All the insects that had bitten dinosaurs million of years ago, the same blood that now had been used to re-create this park turned nightmare. They ran through the lab, Tails felt panic rising as he could hear the snorts and snarls of the raptors, pursuing them, getting closer. Tails and Cream rushed through a door that must have had an alarm because the narrow corridor imitated a siren that sounded shrilly, the lights flashed overhead on and off. Running down the corridor, Tails was plunged into darkness-then light again- then darkness. Over the sound of the alarm, he heard the raptors snort as they followed. Cream was whimpering and moaning. Tails saw another door ahead, with a blue biohazard sign, he slammed into it, not slowing down. He moved beyond the door and collided with something big and Cream shrieked in terror.

"Take it easy kids it's me." A voice said.

Tails looked up in disbelief and joy. Standing above him was Dr. Grant. And next to him was Mr. Gennaro.

* * *

><p>Outside in that hallway, it had taken Sonic nearly a minute to realize that the dead guard down in the lobby probably had a security card.<p>

He'd gone back gotten the card, and together with Gennaro, entered the upper corridor, moving quickly down the hallway. He had followed the sound the raptors and had found them fighting in the nursery. He was pretty sure the kids had gone into the next room and had immediately ran to the extraction room.

There he had met the kids.

Now the raptors were coming toward them. The animals seemed momentarily hesitant, surprised by the appearance of more people.

Sonic quickly pushed the kids into Mighty's arms and said, "Take them back someplace safe."

"But-"

"Through there," Sonic said pointing over shoulder to the far door. "Take them to the control room if you can. You should be safe in there."

"What are you going to do?" Mighty said.

The raptors stood near the door. Sonic noticed that they had waited until all the animals were together, and then they moved forward, as a group. Pack hunters. He shivered.

"I have a plan," Sonic said, "Now go."

Mighty led the kids away. The raptor continued slowly toward Sonic, moving past the supercomputers, past the screens that still blinked endless sequences of computer-deciphered code. The raptors came forward without hesitation, sniffing the floor, repeatedly ducking their heads.

Sonic heard the door click behind him and glanced over his shoulder. Everybody was standing in the control room on the other side of the glass door, watching him. Tails and Cream's eyes were wide with terror. Mighty shook his head.

Sonic knew what that meant. There was no door to the control room beyond. Mighty and the kids were trapped in there.

It was up to him now.

* * *

><p><strong>Dun, Dun, Dun!<strong>

**I aplogize for this chapter being so short. But I just _had_ to end it there!**

**Hey guess what? I have offically caught up,_ and_ passed, the point where I was in this story before the laptop was fried. Yay! Everything is going to be beyond my knowledge of what will happen. Not, I know what I plan on doing lol.**

**Good thing Sonic didn't open that freezer earlier huh? That could have ended bad.**

**Anyway thanks sooooooo much you guys for sticking with me this far. You have now idea how much this means to me. **

**See you next time for the next intense chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one!**


	25. Just The Beginning

**Chapter 24**

**Just the Beginning**

Sonic moved slowly, edging around the laboratory, leading the raptors away from Gennaro and the kids. He could see another door, nearer to the front, which was marked **TO LABORATORY. **Whatever that meant. He suddenly had an idea, and he hoped he was right. The door had a blue biohazard sign. The raptors moved in closer, time to move. Sonic turned and slammed into the door, and moved beyond it, into a deep, warm silence.

He turned.

_Yes._

He was where he wanted to be, in the hatchery: beneath infrared lights, long tables, with rows of eggs and a low clinging mist. The rockers on the tables clicked and whirred in a steady motion. The mist poured over the sides of the tables and drifted to the floor, where it disappeared, evaporated.

Sonic ran directly to the rear of the hatchery, into a glass-walled laboratory with ultraviolent lights. His clothing glowed blue, and his fur was brighter than normal. He looked around at the glass reagents, beaker full of pipettes, glass dishes…all delicate laboratory equipment.

The raptors entered the room with a hiss, cautiously at first, sniffing the humid air, looking at the long rocking tables of eggs. The lead animal wiped its bloody jaws with the back of its forearm. Silently the raptors passed between the long tables. The animals moved through the room in a coordinated way, ducking from time to time to peer beneath the tables.

_They were looking for him._

Sonic crouched, and moved to the back of the lab. Trying to remember everything Charmy had said about this room on the tour the day before. He looked up, and saw a metal hood marked with skull and crossbones. A sign said **CAUTION BIOGENIS TOXINS A5 PRECAUTIONS REQUIRED. **Sonic smirked, he remembered that Charmy had said they were powerful poisons. Only a few molecules would kill instantaneously….

The hood lay flush against the surface of the lab table. Sonic could not slip his hand under it. He tried to open it, but there was no door, no handle, no way that he could see….Sonic rose slowly, and glanced back at the main room. The raptors were still moving among the tables. Good.

He turned to the hood. He saw an odd metal fixture sunk into the surface of the table. It looked like an outdoor electrical outlet with a round cover. He flipped the cover, and saw a button. Here goes nothing, he thought. He pressed the button.

With a soft hiss, the hood slipped open and upward, to the ceiling. Sonic glanced at the raptors, they hadn't noticed the sound.

He saw glass shelves above him, and rows of bottles marked with a skull and crossbones. He peered at the labels, all of them complicated and confusing. The fluids glowed pale green in the ultraviolet light. Nearby he saw a dish with syringes in it. The syringes were small, each containing a tiny amount of green glowing fluid. Crouched in the blue hued darkness, Sonic moved forward and reached for the dish. The needles on the syringes were capped in plastic. He removed one cap, pulling it off with his teeth. He looked at the thing needle…

Then he moved forward. Toward the raptors.

He had devoted his whole life to studying dinosaurs. Now he would see how much he really knew. Velociraptors were small carnivorous dinosaurs, like oviraptors and dromaesaurs, animals that were long though to steal eggs. Just as certain modern birds ate the eggs of other birds. Sonic had always assumed the raptors would eat dinosaur eggs if they could.

He crept forward to the nearest egg table in the hatchery, his heart pounding. Slowly he reached up into the mist and took a large egg from the table. The egg was almost the size of a football, cream-colored with faint pink speckling. He held the egg carefully and stuck the needle through the shell, then injected the contents of the syringe. The egg glowed faintly blue, hopefully the raptors wouldn't notice that.

Sonic bent down again. Beneath the table, he saw the legs of the raptors, and mist pouring from the tabletops. He rolled the glowing egg along the floor, toward the raptors. The raptors looked up, hearing the faint rumble as the egg rolled, jerking their heads around. Then resumed their slow stalking search.

The egg stopped several yards from the nearest raptor.

Damn!

Sonic did it all again, reaching for an egg, bringing it down, injecting it, and rolling it toward the raptors. This time, the egg came to rest by the foot of one velociraptor. It rocked gently, clicking against the big toe claw.

The raptor looked down in surprise at this new gift. It bent over, sniffing the glowing egg. It rolled the egg with its snout along the floor for a moment.

And ignored it.

The velociraptor stood upright again, and slowly moved on, continuing the search.

Double damn!

Sonic growled mentally. This wasn't working!

He inject a third egg. He held the glowing egg in his hands and rolled it again. But he rolled this one fast and hard, like a bowling ball. The egg rattled across the floor loudly.

One of the animals heard the sound-ducked down- saw it coming – and instinctively chased the moving object, gliding swiftly among the tables to intercept the egg as it rolled. The big jaws snapped down and bit into the egg, crushing the shell. YES!

The raptors stood, pale albumen dripping from its jaws. It licked its lips noisily, and snorted. It bit again, and lapped the egg from the floor. But it didn't seem to be in the least bit distressed. It bent over to eat again from the broken egg. Sonic looked down to see what would happen…

From across the room, the raptor saw him. _It was looking right at him._

The velociraptor growled menacingly. It moved towards Sonic, crossing the room in long, incredibly swift strides. Sonic was shocked to see it happening and froze in panic, when suddenly the animal made a gasping, gurgling sound and the big body pitched forward to the floor. The heavy tail thumped the floor in spasms, the body jerking. The raptor continued to make choking sounds, punctuated by intermittent shrieks. Foam began to bulled from its mouth. The head flopped back and forth. The tail slammed and thumped.

_That's one, _Sonic thought.

However, it wasn't dying very quickly. No, it seemed to take forever to die. Sonic reached up for another egg-and saw that the other raptors in the room were frozen in mid-action. They listened to the sound of the dying animal, curious. One cocked its head, then the other. The first animal moved to look at the fallen raptor.

The dying raptor was now twitching, the whole body shaking. It made pitiful moans and whimpers. One could almost be sorry for the creature….Almost. So much foam bubbled from its mouth that Sonic could hardly see the head anymore. It flopped on the floor and moaned again.

The second raptor bent over the fallen animal, examining it. It appeared to be puzzled by the sudden death throes. Cautiously, it looked at the foaming head, then moved down to the twitching and jerking neck, the heaving ribs, the legs….

And it took a bite from the hind leg.

The dying animal snarled, and jerked up, it lifted its head and twisted, sinking its teeth into the neck of the attacker.

_That's two, _Sonic thought.

But the standing animal wrenched free. Blood flowed in little rivers from its neck. It struck out with its hind claws, and with a single, swift, and precise movement, ripped open the belly of the fallen raptor. Coils of intestine fell out like fat snakes, blood gushed out onto the floor, pooling quickly. The screams of the dying raptor filled the room. The attacked turned away, as if fighting it was suddenly too much trouble.

It crossed the room, ducked down, and came up with a glowing egg! Sonic watched as the raptor bit into it, the glowing material dripping down its chin.

_That __makes two._

The second raptor was stricken almost instantly, coughing and pitching forward. As it fell, it knocked over a table. Dozens of eggs rolled everywhere across the floor splattering and rolling. Sonic looked at them in dismay.

There was still a third raptor left.

How was he supposed to kill it now? Sonic had one more syringe left. With so many eggs rolling on the floor, he would have to do something else. He was trying to decide what to do when the last animal snorted irritably. Sonic looked up-

The raptor had spotted him.

The final raptor did not move for a long time, it just stared. And then, it slowly, quietly came towards him. Stalking him. Bobbing up and down, looking beneath the table, then above them. It moved deliberately, cautiously, it seemed to know he was the cause of the other raptors deaths. It displayed no swiftness that it had displayed in a pack. A solitary animal now, careful. It never took its eyes of Sonic. Sonic looked around. There was nowhere for him to hide, nowhere to run to. Nothing for him to do….

Sonic gaze lock onto the raptor, moving slowly and laterally. Sonic moved, too. He tried to keep as many tables as he could between himself and the advancing animal. Slowly….very slowly…he moved to the left…

The raptor advanced in the dark red gloom of the hatchery. Its breath came in soft hisses, through flared nostrils. Its eyes were narrow on Grant.

Sonic felt eggs breaking beneath his feet, the yolk sticking to the sole of his shoes. He crouched down, ready to run, and felt the bulge of the radio in his pocket.

_The radio._

He pulled it from his pocket and turned it on.

"Hello. This is Grant."

"Sonic!" Shelly's voice, "Oh chaos, Sonic is that you?"

"Listen," he said softly, "Just talk."

"Sonic is that you?"

"_Talk," _he said one more time, and he pushed the radio across the floor, away from him, toward the advancing raptor.

He crouched behind a table leg and waited.

"Sonic. Speak to me, please!"

Then a crackle, and silence. The radio remained silent. The raptor advanced. Soft hissing breath.

The radio was still silent.

What was wrong? Did she not understand? In the darkness the raptor came closer. Sonic leaned back, scared out of his wits end. His heart pounded so hard he half expected it to fly out of his chest and land on the floor.

"…Sonic?"

The tinny voice from the radio made the big animal pause. It sniffed the air, as if sensing someone else in the room.

"Sonic, it's me. I don't know if you can hear me, but I'll keep talking."

God bless you Shelly, he thought.

The raptor now turned away from Grant, and moved toward the radio.

"Sonic….please pick up the radio…answer me. Are you all right? What's going on?"

Why hadn't he pushed the radio farther away? Yes, the raptor was going toward the radio, but it was close. The big foot came down very near him. Sonic could make out the pebbled skin, the soft green glow, the streaks of dried blood on the curved claw. He could now smell the strong odor of the reptile.

"Sonic, listen to me…Sonic?"

The raptor bent over, poked the radio on the floor, tentatively. Its body was turned away from Grant. The big tail was right above the azure hedgehog's head. Sonic reached up and jabbed the syringe deep into the flesh of the tail, and injected the poison.

The velociraptor snarled and jumped. With frightening speed it swung back toward Sonic, jaws wide. It snapped, its jaws closing on the table leg, and it jerked its head up. The table was knocked away, and Sonic fell back, now completely exposed. The raptor loomed over him, rising up, its head banging against the infrared lights above, making them swing crazily.

"Sonic?"

The raptor reared back, and lifted its clawed foot to kick. Sonic rolled, and the foot slammed down, just missing him.

Or so he thought.

He felt a searing sharp pain along his shoulder blades, he cried out in pain, the sudden warm flow of blood stained over his shirt. He rolled across the floor, crushing eggs, smearing his hands and face, blood staining the floor. The raptor kicked again, smashing the radio, spattering sparks. It snarled in rage, and roared, it kicked a third time, and Sonic came to the wall, nowhere else to go. He was trapped.

He was going to die.

The animal raised its foot a final time.

And toppled backward.

The animal was wheezing. Foam came from its mouth. Sonic felt his limbs go limp and he slumped onto the floor. Letting out a sigh of relief. Oh, thank God for protecting him.

He'd have to thank Shelly to, when this was all over.

Hell, he'd maybe even kiss her.

Mighty and the kids came into the room, Mighty seemed paled, he probably thought Grant was going to die same amount as he was. Sonic signaled them to stay back, as the raptor jerked and wheezed. Cream looked at the dying animal with wide eyes. Tails was standing there, mouth agape, pointing at the raptor.

Mighty eyed the animal, "Wow."

Mighty reached over, and helped Grant to his feet, "Are you alright."

"Fine," Sonic winced, "Just a back scratch, we'll look at it later."

They all turned, and ran for the control room.

* * *

><p>Tails was astonished, to find Dr. Grant had killed all three raptors. And he was just about to say so as they entered the control room when he noticed the screen was now flashing on and off. Cream said, "What happened?"<p>

Tails watched as Dr. Grant rushed up to the computer. He stopped and stared at the screen, and gingerly moving his hand toward keyboard. He cursed, "I don't know a thing about computers," Grant said, shaking his head.

But Tails was already sliding into the seat. He touched the screen rapidly. On the video monitors, he could see the boat moving closer to the harbor. It was only about two hundred yards from the dock. On the monitor, he saw the lodge, with raptors hanging down from the ceiling. On the radio, he heard their snarls.

"Tails…." Cream said, "I think you should get the power on now."

He pushed **SETGRIDS DNL, **even though it was flashing

The screen answered:

WARNING: COMMAND EXECUTION ABORTED (AUX POWER LOW)

"What does that mean?" Tails said.

Gennaro snapped his fingers, "That happened before. It means auxiliary power is low. You have to turn on the main power."

"I do?"

He pushed **ELECTRICAL MAIN.**

Tails groaned as another menu popped up. Grant leaned over and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "You're doing great Tails, I would have never gotten this far. Just keep calm, you'll figure it out."

"Yeah Tails!" Cream cheered, she seemed to know he was way over stressed now, "You can do it, you know computers remember?" He had to give it to her. She could be supportive when she knew she had to.

Tails pushed **MAIN.**

Nothing happened. The screen continued to flash.

Tails pushed **MAIN GRID P. **He felt sick to his stomach with fear.

MAIN POWER GRID NOT ACTIVE/ AUXILIRAY POWER ONLY

The screen was still flashing. He pushed **MAIN SET 1.**

MAIN POWER ACTIVATED.

All the lights in the room came on. All the monitor screens stopped flashing. "Hey! All right!"

Tails pressed **RESET GRIDS. **Nothing happened for a moment. He glanced at the video monitors, then back at the main screen.

WHICH GRID DO YOU WANT TO RESET?

"Oh God, the raptors." Mighty whispered.

Grant was saying something that Tails did not hear. But he could clearly hear the tension in his voice, he picked up the radio, "We've almost got it Shelly, hold on!"

"I know." The female responded.

Cream grabbed her brothers arm, "Come on Tails! You can do it big brother! Almost there, Almost there!"

Tails wouldn't look at the video monitor anymore. He could hear the sound of the bars bending in the lodge, and the raptors snarling. They were so close. He heard Malcolm say, "Dear God…"

He pushed **LODGE.**

SPECIFY GRID NUMER TO RESET

For a frozen interminable moment, he could not remember the number, but the he remembered, F4, and he pressed just that.

ACTIVATING LODGE GRID F4 NOW.

On the video monitor, he saw an explosion of sparks, sputtering down from the ceiling of the hotel room. The monitor flared white. Cream gasped, "What did you do? Did you get the power on?" but almost immediately the image came back and they could see that the raptors were caught between the bars, writhing and screaming in a hot cascade of sparks while everyone in the lodge cheered, their voices tinny over the radio.

"That's it! Grant cheered, scooping Tails up and swinging him around, "That's it! Tails you did it! You little genius you! You did it!"

Cream hugged him, and Gennaro gave him a hearty slap on the back, "Way to go kid!"

They were all standing and jumping up and down when Cream said, "What about the ship?"

"That what?"

"The _ship," _she said, and pointed to the screen.

On the monitor, the buildings beyond the bow of the ship were much larger, and moving to the right, as the ship turned left and prepared to dock. He saw crewman heading out to the bow, preparing to tie up.

Tails scrambled back to his seat, and stared at the startup screen.

He studied the screen. TeleCom VBB and TeleCom RSD both looked like they might have something to do with telephones. He pressed TeleCom RSD.

YOU HAVE 23 WAITING CALL AND/OR MESSAGES.

DO YOU WISH TO RECEIVE THEM NOW?

He pushed NO.

"Maybe the ship was one of the waiting calls," Cream suggested. "Maybe that way you could get the phone number!"

He thought of it.

ENTER THE NUMBER YOU WITH TO CALL OR PRESS F7 FOR DIRECTORY.

He pushed F7 and suddenly names and numbers spilled over the screen, and enormous directory. It wasn't alphabetical, and it took a while to scan it visually before he found what he was looking for:

VSL VICTORIA Q. (FREDDY) 708 – 3902

Now all he had to do was figure out how to dial. He pushed a row of buttons at the bottom of the screen:

DIAL NOW OR DIAL LATER?

Really? Did he have to think about that one? I think not.

He pushed **DIAL NOW.**

WE'RE SORRY, YOUR CALL CANNOT BE COMPLETED AS DIALED.

{ERROR – 589}

PLEASE TRY AGAIN.

He tried again.

He heard a dial tone, then the tone of the numbers being automatically dialed in rapid succession.

"Is that it?" Grant said.

"Pretty good, Tails," Cream said, "But that phone better hurry, they're almost there." On the screen, they could see the prow of the ship closing on the dock. They heard a high-pitched squeal, and then a voice said, "Ah, Hello, Omega, this is Freddy. Do you read me over?"

Tails picked up a phone on the console but only heard a dial tone.

_Oh no_.

"Ah, hello, Omega? This is Freddy. Do you read me over?

"_Find the a phone!" _Cream cried.

Now they were all picking up phones, lifting every receiver in sight, but they only heard dial tones. Finally Tails saw a phone mounted on the side of the console with a blinking light.

"Ah, hello, control. This is Freddy. Do you read me, over?"

Tails grabbed the receiver. "Hello, this its Tails Murphy, and I need you to-"

"Ah, say that again, didn't get that Omega."

"Don't land the boat! Do you hear me?"

There was a pause. Then a puzzled voice said, "Sounds like some damn kid."

Tails tried again, "Don't land the ship! Come back to the island!"

The voices sounded distant and scratchy, "Did he – name was Murphy?" And another voice said. " I didn't get-name."

Tails looked frantically at the others. Gennaro reached for the phone. "Let me do this. Can you get his name?"

There was a sharp crackle of static. "-got to be a joke or else- a- frigging ham operator- omthing."

Tails was working on the keyboard, there was probably some kind of a way to find out who Freddy was…

"Can you hear me?" Gennaro said, into the phone. "If you can hear me, answer me now, over."

"Son," came the drawled reply, "we don't know who the hell you are, but you're not funny, and we're about to dock, and we've got work to do. Now, identify yourself properly of get the hell off this channel."

Tails watched as the screen printed out, FARRELL, FREDERICK D. (CAPT.)

Gennaro glanced at the screen, "Try this for identification, Captain Farrell," Gennaro said. "If you don't turn that boat around and return to this island immediately, you will be found in violation of Section 509 of the Uniform Maritime Act, you will be subjected to revocation of license, penalties in excess of fifty thousand dollars, and five years in jail. Do you hear that?"

There was a silence.

"Do you copy that, Captain Farrell?" Gennaro smirked.

And then, distantly, they heard a voice say, "I copy," and another voice said, "All ahead stern." The boat then began to turn away from the dock.

Cream cheered. Tails collapsed back in the chair, wiping the sweat from his furry forehead.

Grant turned to Gennaro, "What's the Uniform Maritime Act?"

"Who the hell knows?" Gennaro laughed.

They all watched the screen with satisfaction. The boat was definitely heading away from the shore.

"I guess the hard part's finished," Gennaro said.

Grant shook his head, his eyes closed, "The hard part," he sighed, opening his eyes, "is just the beginning.

**Who just about broke her fingers trying to make this chapter?**

**ME!**

**The raptors are all finally dead. The boat is coming back. Things are _finally, _looking better. **

**Or is it? Because Sonic seems to think otherwise.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, till next time!**


	26. The Nest

Chapter 25

**The Nest**

They moved Malcolm to another room in the lodge, to a clean bed. And to a room that didn't smell of blood and fried raptor. Big Hammond seemed to magically revive, and began bustling around, straightening up. "Well," he said, "at least disaster is averted."

"What disaster is that?" Shadow said, sighing.

"Well," Hammond said, "They didn't get free and overrun the world."

Shadow sat up on one elbow, "You were worried about that?"

"Surely that's what was at stake," Hammond said, "These animals, lacking predators, might get out and destroy the planet."

"You egomaniacal _idiot," _Shadow said, in fury. "Do you have any idea what you are talking about? You think you can destroy the planet? My, what and _intoxicating power _you must have." He sank back onto the bed, "You can't destroy the planet. You can't even come close."

"Most people believe," Hammond said stiffly, "that the planet is in jeopardy."

"Well then most people are wrong," Shadow said, "Because it's not."

"All the experts agree that out planet is in trouble."

Shadow sighed, "Let me tell you about our planet." He said. "Our planet is four and a half billion years old. There has been life on this planet for nearly that long. Three point eight billion years. The first bacteria. And, later, the first multicellular animals, then the first complex creatures, in the seas, on the land. Then the great sweeping ages of animals- the amphibians, the dinosaurs, the mammals, each lasting millions upon millions of years. Great dynasties of creatures arising, flourishing, dying away. All this happening against the background of continuous and violent upheaval, mountain ranges thrust up and eroded away, cometary impacts, volcanic eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving …Endless constant and violent change…Even today, the greatest geographical feature on the planet comes from two continents colliding, buckling to make the Himalayan mountain range over millions of years. The planet had survived everything, in its time. It will certainly survive us."

Hammond frowned, "Just because it lasted a long time," he said, "doesn't mean it is permanent. If there was a radiation accident…."

"Suppose there was," Shadow said. "Let's say we had a bad one, and all the plants and animals died, and the earth was clicking hot for a hundred thousand years. Life would survive somewhere-under the soil, or perhaps frozen in Arctic ice. And after all, of those years, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would again spread over the planet. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety. And of course, it would be very different from what it is now. But the earth would survive our folly. Life would survive our folly. Only we," Shadow said, "think it wouldn't. Life finds a way. And I don't think you understand that Hammond."

Hammond said, "Well, if the ozone layer gets thinner-"

"There will be ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface. So what?"

"Well. It'll cause skin cancer."

Shadow shook his head. "Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It is a powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation."

"And many others will die out," Hammond said.

Malcolm sighed. "You think this is the first time such a thing has happened? Don't you know about oxygen?"

"I know it's necessary for life."

"It is _now." _Malcolm said. "But oxygen is actually a metabolic poison. It's a corrosive gas, like fluorine, which is used to etch glass. And when oxygen first produced as a waste product by plant cell-say, around three billion years ago – it was a crisis for all other life on our planet. On earth, the concentration of oxygen was going up rapidly – five, ten, and eventually twenty- one percent! Earth had an atmosphere of pure poison! Incompatible with life!"

Hammond looked irritated now, "So what is your point? That modern pollutants will be incorporated too?"

"No," Shadow said. "My point is that life on earth can take care of itself. In the thinking of a human being one thousand years is a long time. A thousand year ago, we didn't have cars, airplanes, computers. Or even anthros for that matter! However, to the earth, a thousand years is nothing, a million years is nothing! The planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We cannot imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We have been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we are gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."

"And we very well might be gone," Hammond said, huffing.

` "Yes," Shadow said, "We might."

"So what are you saying? We shouldn't care about the environment?"

"No, of course not."

"Then what?"

Malcolm coughed, and stared into the distance. "Let's be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. _We _are in jeopardy. We haven't got the power to destroy the planet – or save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves."

* * *

><p>Fours hours had passed. It was afternoon; the sun was falling. The air conditioning was back on in the control room, and the computer was functioning properly. AS near as they could determine, out of the twenty-four people on the island, eight were dead and six more were missing. The visitor center and the Safari Loge were both secure, and the northern perimeter seemed to be clear of any dinosaurs. They had called the authorities in San José for help. The Costa Rican National Guard was on its way, as well as an air ambulance to carry Charmy Wu and Shadow Malcolm to a hospital. But over the telephone, the Costa Rican guard had been distinctly cautious: undoubtedly calls would be going back and forth between San José and Washington before help was finally sent to the island. And now it was growing late in the say; is the helicopters didn't arrive soon, they would have to wait until morning.<p>

In the meantime, there was nothing to do but wait. The ship was returning; the crew had discovered three young raptors scampering about in one of the aft holds, and had killed the animals. On Isla Nublar, the immediate danger appeared to have passed; everyone was either in the visitor center of the lodge. Tails had gotten quiet good with the computer, and now was in complete control. He flashed up a new screen.

**Total Animals 292**

It was the same list as before, showing the expected animals in the park, however this one had change considerably since the discovery yesterday.

A large number of animals were missing, at least one from each group. A rex was missing, as were ten raptors. The Dilophosaurs were missing three. Pterosaurs only had five. They were only down to one Stego out of four, and two Triceratops were gone.

The list continued on showing what was left of the park. Till finally:

**Expected: 292 Found: 203**

"What is it doing now?" Mighty said. "Is it saying there are fewer animals?"

Sonic nodded, he was tired and sore and just wanted to sleep. But that wasn't going to happen soon, "Probably."

Shelly said, "Jurassic Park is finally coming under control."

"Meaning what?" Amy asked.

"Equilibrium," Sonic pointed at the monitors. On one of them, the hypsilphodonts leapt into air as a pack of velociraptors entered the field from the west.

"The fences have been down for hours," Sonic explained. "The animals are mingling with each other. Populations reaching equilibrium – a true Jurassic equilibrium."

"I don't think that was supposed to happen," Mighty sighed. "The animals were never supposed to mix."

"Well, they are."

On another monitor, Sonic saw a pack of raptors racing at full speed across an open field toward a four-ton hadrosaur. The hadrosaur turned to flee, and one of the raptors jumped onto its back, biting the long neck, while the others raced forward, circled around it, nipped at its legs, leapt up to slash the belly with their powerful claws. Within minutes, the six raptors had brought down the larger beast.

Sonic stared, silently.

Shelly walked up, her fingers brushing against his, she said, "Is this the way you imagined?"

"I don't know what I imagined," he sighed. He watched the monitor for a moment before intertwining his fingers with hers, "No, not exactly."

Knuckles leaned in from his spot on the wall, "You know, it appears all the adult raptors are out right now." He said quietly.

Sonic didn't pay much attention at fist. He just watched the monitors, the interaction of the great animals. In the south, the lone stegosaur was swinging its spiked tail; warily circling the baby tyrannosaur, which watched it, bemused, and occasionally lunged forward to nip ineffectually at the spikes. In the western quadrant, the adult triceratops were fighting among themselves, charging and locking horns. One animal already lay wounded and dying.

Knuckles said, "We've got about an hour of good daylight left, Dr. Grant. If you want to try and find that nest."

"Right," Sonic said, "I do."

"Can I come?" Cream asked.

Sonic ruffled her hair, "Not this time okay?"

She looked at him for a moment, "Okay," she smiled before skipping off to join her brother.

"I was thinking," Knuckles, said, "that, when the Costa Ricans come, they will probably imagine this island to be a military problem. Something to destroy and soon as possible."

"Damn right," Mighty mumbled.

"They'll bomb it from the air," Knuckles said. "Perhaps napalm, perhaps nerve gas as well. But from the air none the less."

"I hope they do," Mighty said, "This island is too damn dangerous."

"That won't do," Sonic said, "He let go of Shelly's hand. "Let's get started."

"Grant, I don't think you're getting it." Mighty said. "This island should be destroyed, we should leave this to the Costa Ricans don't you get it?"

"Perfectly," Sonic said.

"Then what's your problem?" Mighty said. "Why not let the military do it?"

Sonic's back ached as he moved, he winced, it hurt like hell where the raptor had clawed him. "No," he said. "We have to take care of it."

"Are you sure?" Mighty said.

Sonic remembered how he had found Mighty, just six hours earlier, in the truck not doing much to help. And suddenly he lost his temper, and slammed the armadillo against the concrete wall. "No _you _listen here, you bastard, you have a responsibility to this situation, and you're going to start living up to it!"

"I am," Mighty snapped.

"No, you're not!" Sonic snapped back, "You shirked your responsibility all along, from the very beginning!"

"What are-"

"You sold investors on an undertaking you didn't fully understand. You were part owner of a business you failed to supervise. You did not check the activities of a man whom you knew from experience to be a liar, and you permitted that man to screw around with the most dangers technology in human history! I say you shirked your responsibility. And you say you're responsible, but you are still shirking! You cannot do that anymore!"

Mighty was silent for a moment, "Let's go find the nest then,"

Sonic pulled away leaving Mighty coughing for air, and turned to Knuckles. "What have we got for weapons."

Knuckles thought for a moment, "We've got control nets, and shock prods."

"How good are these shock prods?" Sonic asked.

"There like bang sticks for sharks. They have and explosive capacitor tip, deliver a shock on contact. High voltage, low amps. Not fatal, but it works."

"That's not going to do it," Sonic said, "Not in the nest."

"Which nest," Mighty coughed, "Are we talking about?"

"The raptor nest," Shelly said.

"The _raptor nest." _Mighty mumbled, He looked off, "Damn it more raptors." He turned back to Sonic and Shelly, "Let's get this over with then,"

Sonic was saying, 'Have any radio collars?"

"I'm sure we do," Knuckles said.

"Get on. And is there anything else that can be used for defense?"

Knuckles shook his head.

"Well, get whatever you can."

Knuckles walked away. Sonic turned to Mighty. "This island is a mess. But we don't know the extent, which means we have to find the nests. Especially the raptor nests. They'll be hidden. We need to find them, inspect them, and count the eggs. We need to account for every animal born on this island. Then we can burn it down. But first we have a little work to do."

* * *

><p>Shelly was looking at the wall map, which now showed the animal ranges. Tails was working on the keyboard. She pointed at the map. "The raptors are localized in the southern area, down were the volcanic fields are. Maybe they like the warmth."<p>

"Any place to hide down there?"

"Turns out there is," she said. "There is a massive concrete waterworks, to control flooding in the southern flatlands. Big underground are. Water and shade."

Sonic nodded. "Then that's where they'll be."

Shelly said, "I think there's and entrance from the beach, too." She turned to the consoles and said, "Tails, show us the cutaways on the waterworks." Tails wasn't listening, "Tails?"

He was hunched over the keyboard. "Just a minute," he said. "I found something."

"What is it?"

"It's an unmarked storage room. I don't know what's there."

"Then it might have weapons," Sonic said.

* * *

><p>They were all behind the maintenance building, unlocking a steel storm door, lifting up into the sunlight, to reveal concrete steps going down into the earth. "Damned Omega," Knuckles said, as he hobbled down the steps. "He must have known this was here all along."<p>

"Maybe not," Mighty said, "He didn't try to go here, when the raptors attacked."

"Well then, Hammond knew. Somebody knew."

"Where is Hammond anyway?" Sonic asked.

"Still at the lodge."

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and came upon rows of gas masks hanging on the wall, in plastic containers. They shone their flashlights deeper into the room and saw several heavy glass cubes. Two feet high, with steel caps. Sonic could see small dark spheres inside the cubes. It was like being in a room full of giant peppershakers, he thought.

Knuckles opened the cap of one, reached in, and withdrew a sphere. He turned it in the light, frowning, "I'll be damned."

"What is it?" Sonic said.

"MORO-12," Knuckles said. "It's an inhalation nerve gas. These are grenades. Lots and lots of grenades."

"Let's get started then," Sonic said grimly.

* * *

><p>" It likes me," Cream said, smiling. They were standing in the garage of the visitor center, by the little raptor Sonic had captured in tunnel. She was petting the raptor through the bars of the cage. The animal rubbed up against her hand.<p>

"I'd be careful there," Knuckles frowned, "They can give a nasty bite,"

"He likes me," Cream said, "His name is Clarence."

"You named….the raptor Clarence…" Knuckles said slowly.

"Yes," Cream replied, "And Clarence won't bite me. Won't you Clarence," she cooed to the little raptor.

Knuckles was holding the leather collar with the small metal box attached to it. Sonic heard the high-pitched beeping in the headset. "Is it a problem putting the collar on the animal?"

Cream was still petting the raptor, "I bet he'll let me put in on him," she said.

"I wouldn't try," Knuckles, advised, "They're unpredictable."

"I still think he'll let me," she said.

So Knuckles relented and gave Cream the collar. She held it out so the raptor could smell it. Then she slowly slipped it around the animal's neck. The raptor turned brighter green when Cream buckled it and closed the Velcro cover over the buckle. Then the animal relaxed, and turned paler again.

"I'll be damned," Knuckles said.

"It's like a chameleon." Mighty said.

"The other raptors couldn't do that," Knuckles said, frowning, "This wild animal must be different. By the way," he turned to Sonic, "if they're all born females, how do they breed. You never explained that bit about the frog DNA."

"It's not frog DNA," the blue hedgehog explained, "It's amphibian DNA. But the phenomenon happens to be particularly well documented in frogs. Especially West African frogs, if I remember."

"And what phenomenon would that be?"

"Gender transition," Sonic said, "It just plain changing sex." Sonic explained, "The situation is formed when the environment in which all the animals are of the same gender. In that situation, some amphibians will spontaneously begin to switch from male to female."

"And you think that's what happened to the dinosaurs?"

"Until we have a better explanation yes," Sonic said. "I think that's what happened. Now, shall we find this nest."

They piled into the Jeep, and Cream lifted the raptor from the cage. The animal seemed quite calm, almost tame in her hands. She gave it a final pat on the head, and released it.

The animal wouldn't leave.

"Go on Clarence, shoo!" Cream said. "Go home!"

The raptor turned, and ran off into the foliage.

* * *

><p>Sonic held the receiver and wore the headphones, bouncing in the back seat. Knuckles drove. The car bounced along the main road. Shelly sat shotgun, keeping an eye out for loose dinosaurs. Mighty turned to Sonic and said, "So, what is it like, the nest?"<p>

"Nobody knows," Sonic said.

"But I thought you'd dug them up."

"I've dug up _fossil _dinosaur nests," Sonic said. "But all fossils are distorted by the weight of millennia. We've made some hypotheses, some suppositions, but nobody really knows what the nests were like."

Sonic listened to the beeps, and signaled Knuckles to head farther west. It looked more and more as if, Shelly was right: the nest was in the southern volcanic fields.

Sonic went on to explain how nesting behavior was unclear. Like with modern reptiles, even their nesting behavior was not well known. The American alligator was better studied than most, and in the case of the alligators, only the female guarded the nest. She guarded the nest fiercely, her attention seemed to wane with time, and she generally abandoned the nest by the time of hatching. In the wild, a baby alligator began its life entirely on its own, and for that reason, its belly was full of egg yolk for nourishment.

"So adult alligators don't protect the young?"

"Not as we imagined they would," Sonic said. "The biological parents both abandon the offspring. But there is a kind of group protection. Young alligators have a very distinctive distress cry, and brings any adult who hears it – parent or not – to their assistance with a full-fledged, violent attack. Not a threat display. A full-on attack."

"Oh." Mighty fell silent.

"But that is the habit studied of reptiles," Sonic added.

"And dinos aren't reptiles," Knuckles said laconically.

"Exactly. The dinosaur nesting pattern could be more closely related to that of any variety of birds."

"So in the end," Mighty said. " You don't know. You have no idea what the nest will be like."

"No," Sonic said, "I don't."

"Well," Mighty said, "So much for that then,"

Sonic looked forward. Already he could smell the sulfur. And up ahead he saw the rising steam of the volcanic fields.

* * *

><p>The ground was hot, Mighty thought, as he walked forward. He wasn't kidding either, the ground was actually <em>hot. <em>And here and there the mud bubbled and spat up from the ground. And the reeking sulfurous steam hissed in great shoulder-high plumes. He felt as if he was walking through a preview of hell.

He looked at Sonic, walking along with the headset on, listening to the beeps. Sonic in his red and white striped sneakers, cargo jeans, blue shirt with a fedora on his head, apparently very cool. Mighty didn't feel cool. He was honestly scared to be in this stinking, hellish place, with velociraptors somewhere around. He didn't understand how Grant could be so calm about it.

Or the woman too, Shelly Sattler. She was walking along, too, just looking calmly around. Like dinosaur tracking was an everyday thing for her.

"Doesn't this bother you?" Mighty asked.

"We've got to do it," Sonic said. He didn't say anything else.

They all walked forward, among the bubbling steam vents. Mighty fingered the gas grenades clipped to his belt. He looked at Shelly, "Why isn't he worried about it?"

"Maybe he is," she said. "But he's also thought about this for his whole life."

Mighty nodded, and wondered what that would be like. Whether there was anything he had waited his whole life for. He decided there wasn't anything.

Not a single thing in the world.

* * *

><p>Sonic squinted in the sunlight. Ahead, through veils of steam, an animal crouched, looking at them. Then scampered away.<p>

"Was that the raptor?" Shelly said.

"I think so. Or another one. Juvenile, anyway."

She said, "Leading us on?"

"Maybe." Shelly had told him how the raptors had played at the fence to keep her attention while another climbed from the roof. He was not pleased to hear she had been bait by the way. However, if what she had said was true, such behavior implied a mental capacity that was beyond nearly all forms of life on earth. Classically, the ability to invent and execute plans was believed to be limited to only four species: chimpanzees, gorillas, human beings, and anthros. Now there was the possibility that a dinosaur might be able to do such a thing, too.

The raptor appeared again, darting into the light, then jumping away with a squeak. It really did seem to be leading them on.

Mighty frowned, "How smart are they?" he said.

"If you think of them as birds," Sonic said, "then you have to wonder. Some new studies show the grey parrot has as much symbolic intelligence as a chimpanzee. And chimpanzees can definitely use language. Now researchers are finding parrots have the emotional development of a three year old child, but their intelligence in unquestioned. Parrots can definitely reason symbolically."

"But I've never heard of anybody killed by a parrot." Mighty grumbled.

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! Another chapter out, oh yeah!<strong>

**Sorry this one was a little dull, but it was a bit of a break from the previous intensness. :) Man I had to get seriously scientific for this chapter. I usually try to stay away from the book, but I had to consult if properly to get it right, not to mention I used wiki chaos knows how many times to brush up on my knowledge of UV radiation and the nesting habits of certain animals and all that. So it was a very good chapter for me XD made my brain work a bit.**

**Anyone else getting sick of Hammond? Cause I am. :)**

**We are super close to the end now, might be done in two more, maybe even three chapters. And the Jurassic Park is done baby! Onto the lost world where things can get crazy again! lol.**

**See you for the next chapter!**


	27. The Other Side

Chapter 26

**The Other Side**

Distantly, they could hear the sound of the surf on the island shore. The volcanic fields were behind them now, and they faced a field of boulders. The little raptor climbed up onto one rock, and then abruptly disappeared.

"Where'd it go?" Shelly said.

Sonic was listening to the earphones. The beeping had stopped. "He's gone."

They hurried forward, and found in the midst of the rock a small hole, like a rabbit hole. It was perhaps two feet in diameter. As they watched, the juvenile raptor reappeared, blinking in the light. Then it scampered away.

"No way," Mighty said, "Ah hell, you have got to be kidding."

Sonic said nothing. He and Shelly began to plug in equipment. Soon he had a small video camera attached to the hand-held monitor. He tied the camera to a rope, turned it on, and lowered it down into the hole.

"Can you see anything?" Mighty asked.

"Let it adjust." Shelly said.

There was enough light along the upper tunnel for them to see smooth dirt walls, and then the tunnel opened out suddenly, abruptly. Over the microphone, they heard a squeaking sound. Then a lower, trumpeting sound. More noises, coming from many, _many_ animals.

"Sounds like the nest, all right." Shelly said.

"But we can't _see _anything." Mighty said, He wiped the sweat off his forehead. Damn, it was hot out!

"No," Sonic said, "But I can hear." He listened for a while longer, and then hauled the camera out, and set it on the ground. "Let's get started." He climbed up toward the hole. Shelly went to get a flashlight and a shock stick. Sonic pulled the gas mask over his face, and crouched down over the hole awkwardly, extending his legs backward.

"We're going down there then?" Mighty asked.

"Yep," was Sonic's blunt reply. "It doesn't thrill me, but we have to. I'll go first, then Shell, and you'll follow after."

"Why don't we drop these nerve-gas grenades first then?"

"Trust me, I'd like nothing better," Sonic said. He backed down toward the hole. "But have you ever seen anything die from poison gas?"

"I can't say I have, no…" Mighty said.

"It causes convulsions, Bad convulsions." Sonic explained, "We need to go into the nest to see how many animals have hatched. If we kill them first, some of them might fall on the nests in their spasms, which will ruin our ability to see what was there. So we can't gas them."

"Oh…" Mighty sighed, "Alright then…."

"Your money made these animals. You helped created them. So don't go killing them just because you feel a little nervous." Sonic said.

"Screw my money then. Screw Hammond, and screw my life," Mighty growled. "And screw nervous, I'm scared out of my wits end, so let's get this the hell over with."

Sonic nodded, "Follow me," he said. Shelly handed him a shock stick. He pushed backward into the hole, and grunted. "Tight fit."

Sonic exhaled, and extended his arms above him, there was a kind of whoosh, and he was gone.

The hole gaped, empty and black.

"Hell," Knuckles mumbled, "I hope he lands alright."

"Yeah…" Mighty said slowly.

Shelly stepped forward and leaned close to the hole, listening at the opening. She clicked the radio, and said softly. "Sonic?"

There was a long silence. Then they heard faintly: "I'm here."

"Is everything all right, Sonic?"

Another long silence. When Sonic finally spoke, his voice sounded distinctly odd, almost awestruck.

"Everything's fine," he said.

* * *

><p>In the lodge, Big Hammond paced back and forth in Malcolm's room. Big was impatient and uncomfortable. Since marshaling the effort of his last outburst, Shadow Malcolm had slipped into a coma, and now it appeared to Big that he might actually die. Of course the helicopter had been sent for, but chaos knows when it would arrive. The thought that Malcolm might die in the meantime filled Big with anxiety and dread.<p>

And, paradoxically, Big found it much worse because he disliked the mathematician so much. It was worse if then if the man were his friend. Big felt that Malcolm's death, should it occur, would be the final rebuke, then last laugh, the last piece to Malcolm's theory, and that enough was more the Big could bear.

In any case, the smell in the room was quite horrid. Ghastly really. The rotten decay for flesh.

"Everything…parad…." Malcolm said, tossing on the pillow.

"Is he waking up?" Big said.

Harding shook his head.

"What did he say? Something about paradise?"

"I didn't catch it," Harding said.

Big paced, paused, and then paced some more. He pushed the window wider, trying to get some fresh air. Finally, when he couldn't stand it, he said. "Is there any problem with going outside?"

"I don't think so, no." Harding answered. "I think this area is all right."

"Well, look, I'm going outside for a bit."

"All right," Harding responded. He adjusted the flow on the intravenous antibiotics.

"I'll be back soon,"

"All right." The vet's response was monotone, polite, but lack of emotion, but that was his job. Big was his superior.

Big left, hurrying out of the lodge, and stepping out into the daylight, wondering why he had bothered to justify himself to Harding. After all, the man was his employee, the park vet, nothing more. Big had no need to explain himself.

He walked up and looked beyond the gates, looking around the park. It was late afternoon, the time when the blowing mist was thinned, and the sun sometimes came out. The sun was out now, and Nig took it as an omen. Say what they would, he knew that his park had a promise. And even if the impetuous fool Mighty Gennaro decided to burn it to the ground, it would not make a difference.

Big knew that in two separate vaults at InGen headquarters in Palo Alto were dozens of frozen embryos. It would not be a problem to grow them again, on another island, elsewhere in the world. And if there had been problems here, then the next time they would solve those problems. That was how progress occurred. By solving problems.

As he thought about it, he concluded that Charmy Wu had not really been the man for the job. Wu had clearly been sloppy, too casual with his great undertaking. He had been to occupied with making improvements then making dinosaurs. Big suspected darkly that was the reason for the downfall of the park.

Wu was the reason.

He also had to admit, that Omega Arnold was ill suited for the job of chief engineer. Omega had been brilliant at one point, but at this point in his career he was tired, and he was a fretful worrier. He hadn't been organized, and he had missed things. Important things.

In truth, neither Charmy nor Omega had the most important characteristic, Big had decided. The characteristic of _vision. _That great sweeping act of imagination which evoked a marvelous park, where children pressed against the fences, wondering at the extraordinary creatures, come alive from their storybooks. Real _vision. _The ability to see into the future. The ability to marshal resources to make that future vision a reality.

No, neither Wu, nor Omega was suited to that task.

And, for that matter, Jet Regis had been a poor choice, too. Harding was at best and indifferent choice. Muldoon was a damn drunk….

Big shook his head. He would do better next time.

Lost in his thoughts, he watched as a Tican workmen, a salamander, walk his way. The worker nodded curtly. Big did not return the nod. He found the Tican workmen to be uniformly insolent. To tell the truth, the choice of this island off Costa Rica had also been unwise. He would not make such obvious mistakes again-

When it came, the roar of the dinosaur seemed frighteningly close. Big spun so quickly he almost fell onto the path, when he looked back, he thought he saw the shadow of the juvenile T-rex, moving in the foliage beside the flagstone path, towards him.

What was the T-rex doing here? Why was it outside the fences?

Big felt a flash of rage, and then he saw the Tican workman running for his life. And suddenly that didn't seem like such a back idea. He raced back towards the lodge as fast as he could go.

Damn that rex! He certainly would not make another one of _those _nasty animals at his next park.

It would all be better next time.

* * *

><p>In the control room, Cream said to Tails, "I wish we could have gone to the nest with Dr. Grant" she said, "I miss him."<p>

"It's too dangerous for us, Cream," Tails said. "We have to stay here. But Dr. Grant will be back, he always does. Hey listen to this one." He presses another button and a recorded tyrannosaur roar echoed over the loudspeakers in the park.

"That's neat," Cream said. "That's better than the other one."

"You can do it too," Tails said, "And if you push this, you get reverb."

"Let me try," Cream said. She pushed the button. They tyrannosaur roared again. Cream laughed ."Can we make it last longer?" she said.

"Sure," Tails grinned. "We just twist this thing here…."

* * *

><p>Silver jumped as Hammond raced into the room, slamming the door behind him, "Back from your walk already?" he asked.<p>

"The….rex….T-rex…out there…." Hammond gasped, the poor old cat was out of breath.

Silver stood, "What do you mean the rex is out there, its-" He froze as an tyrannosaur roar echoed throughout the park. "Oh…" He glanced out the window as the animal roared again, but he could see no T-rex, not the adult, nor the juvenile. "Were you sure you saw the rex?" he asked.

"I did, by God, I swear I did." Hammond gasped.

"Well, as long as we stay low," Silver said, "We'll be fine, I'm going to check on Amy and Charmy." He walked for the door, but then he heard and amplified voice say,

"Come on, Tails, I get to try too. Come on. Let me make the noise."

_The kids._

The tyrannosaur roared again, but this time it had distinct musical overtones, and a kind of echo, persisting afterward.

The children burst into fits of giggles. "Neat one," said the little girl, "Do it again."

Silver felt a small creep up on his lips, as the roar rang out again. Then he burst out laughing. A musical tyrannosaur, oh chaos that was too funny! He laughed harder.

Because that had to be the best thing he had heard all weekend.

* * *

><p><em>Those damned kids!<em>

Big was furious, he should have never let the grandchildren come to the island. He loved them to death but. Oh, they had been nothing but trouble from the beginning. Nobody wanted them around. Big had only brought the children because he thought that would stop Gennaro from destroying the park, but he was going to go it anyway. And the kids had now obviously gotten into the control room and started fooling around-now who had allowed that?

He sat, frustrated as can be. And it didn't help that Harding somehow found the whole thing funny. He got up, and went to go see how Amy and Wu were doing.

* * *

><p>Silver had just finally suppressed his laughter and was drinking a cup of water, when he heard it.<p>

Malcolm's voice was not louder than a whisper. "Everything…looks different…on the other side." He said.

Silver rushed to the bed and leaned close to him, "On the other side?" he asked, "Malcolm what are you talking about, what other side?" he was worried, was Malcolm talking about dying?

"When…shifts," Shadow whispered.

"Shifts?"

Shadow didn't answer. His cut and bruised lips moved. "Paradigm," he said finally.

"Paradigm shifts?" Silver said. He knew about paradigm shifts. For the last two decades, they had been the fashionable way to talk about scientific change. 'Paradigm' was just another term for a model, but as scientists used it the term meant something more, a world view. A larger way of seeing the world. Paradigm shifts were said to occur whenever science made a major change in its view of the world. Such changes were relatively rare, occurring about every century or so. Darwinian evolution had forced a paradigm shift. Quantum mechanics had forced a smaller shift. Then of course, there was genetic power…

"No," Shadow said. "Not….paradigm…beyond…"

"Beyond paradigm?" Silver asked.

"Don't care about….that….anymore…"

"Hang on Malcolm, the chopper will be here soon," Silver sighed. Despite all efforts, Shadow was rapidly slipping into a terminal delirium. His fever was higher, and they were almost out of his antibiotics.

"What don't you care about?"

"Anything," Shadow said. "Because….everything looks different ….on the other side."

And he smiled.

* * *

><p>"Chaos I must be crazy," Mighty said, "You're crazy too," he added. He watched as Shelly Sattler squeezed backward into the rabbit hole, stretching her arms up.<p>

She smiled at him "Probably," she said. She pushed against the sides of the hole. And suddenly she was gone.

The hole gaped black.

"Ah hell," Mighty said, as he looked a Knuckles, "Why am I doing this?"

"I dunno," Knuckles said with a shrug. "But they're waiting for you."

Mighty sighed, "Yeah I know." He laughed half-heartedly, "I've already been chased by a rex, and out smarted raptors, I'm living dangerously, so this can't be too bad right?"

Knuckles smirked, "Yep."

He walked toward the hole, from a distance it appeared small, but as he came closer to it, it seemed to grow larger.

Mighty climbed backward into the hole, then he paused. He turned around, he was not going backward into the unknown. He glanced a Knuckles, "Here goes nothing." He looked back at the hole, and pulled the gas mask over his face.

And suddenly he was rushing forward, sliding into the blackness, seeing the dirt walls disappear into the darkness before him, and then the wall became narrower - much narrower – terrifyingly narrow – how small were they getting? He was lost in the pain of a squeezing compression, that became steadily worse and worse, that crushed the air out of his lungs, and he was only dimly aware that the tunnel tilted slightly upward along the path, shifting his body, leaving him gasping and seeing spots before his eyes, and the pain was extreme.

And then suddenly the tunnel tilted downward again, and it became wider, and Mighty felt rough surfaces, concrete, and cold air. His body was suddenly free, and bouncing, tumbling on concrete.

And then he fell.

* * *

><p>Voices in the darkness, far and distant. Fingers touching him, reaching forward from the whispered voices. The air was cold, like a cave.<p>

"-okay?"

"He looks okay, yes."

"Well, he's breathing…"

"That's a good sign."

He opened his eyes, Shelly had a hand gently on his cheek, "Can you hear?" she whispered.

Sonic's face peeped into his vision, "Why did you go head first?" he whispered. There was a smirk on his lips.

Mighty winced, "Trust me, I wouldn't have if I had known better. Why are we whispering?"

"Because," Shelly said, she pointed.

Mighty turned, rolled, got slowly to his feet. He stared as his vision grew accustomed to the darkness. But the first thing that he saw, gleaming in the dark, was eyes. Glowing green eyes.

_Dozens_ of eyes. All around him.

* * *

><p>He was on a concrete ledge, an embankment of sorts, about seven feet above the floor. Large steel junction boxes provided a makeshift hiding plane, and that was good. It protected them from the view of two full-size raptors that stood directly before them, not five feet away. The animals were dark green, with brownish tiger stripes. They stood upright, balancing on their stiff extended tails. They were totally silent, looking around watchfully with large dark eyes. At the feet of the adults, baby velociraptors skittered and chirped. Farther back, in the darkness, juveniles tumbled and played, giving short snarls and growls.<p>

Mighty did not even dare to breathe.

Two raptors!

Crouched on the ledge, he was only a foot of two above the animals head height. The raptors were edgy, their heads jerking nervously up and down. From time to time, they snorted impatiently. Then they moved off, turning back toward the main group.

With his eyes now adjusted, Mighty could now see that they were in some kind of an enormous underground structure, but it was man-made – there were seams of poured concrete, and the nubs of protruding steel rods. And within this vast echoing space were many animals: Mighty guessed at least thirty raptors. Perhaps more.

"It's a colony," Sonic said whispering. "Four or six adults. The rest are juveniles and infants. At least two hatchings, one last year and one this year. These babies look about four months old. Probably hatched in April."

One of the babies, curious, scampered up on the ledge, and came toward them squeaking. It was now only ten feet away.

"Oh Jesus," Mighty said. But immediately one of the adults came forward, raised its head, and gently nudged the baby to turn back. The baby chattered a protest, then hopped up to stand on the snout of the adult. The adult moved slowly, allowing the baby to climb over its head, down its neck, onto its back. From that protected spot, the infant turned, and chirped noisily at the three intruders.

The adults still did not seem to notice them at all.

"I don't get it," Mighty whispered. "Why aren't they attacking?"

Sonic shook his head, "They must not see us. And there aren't any eggs at the moment….Makes them more relaxed."

"_Relaxed?" _Mighty said, "Okay then. So how long do we need to stay?"

"Long enough to do the count," Sonic said.

As Sonic saw it, there were three nests, attended by the three sets of parents. The division of territory was centered roughly around the nests, although the offspring seemed to overlap, and run into the different territories. The adults were benign with the young ones, and tougher with the juveniles, occasionally snapping at the older at the older animals when their play got too rough.

At that moment, a juvenile raptor came up to Shelly, and rubbed his head against her led. She looked down and saw the leather collar with the black box. It was damp in one place, and it had chafed the skin of the young animal's neck.

The juvenile whimpered.

In the big room below, one of the adults turned curiously toward the sound.

"Sonic, I think I should take this off."

"Alright, just doing it quickly."

"Oo-kay," she said, squatting beside the small animal. It whimpered again.

The adults snorted, bobbed their heads.

Shelly petted the little juvenile trying to soothe it, to silence its whimpering. She moved her hands toward the leather collar, lifted back the Velcro tab with a tearing sound. The adults lifted their heads with a jerk.

Then one began to walk towards her.

"Oh _shit," _Mighty said, under his breath,

"Don't move," Sonic whispered, "Stay calm." But his expression was anything but calm as he glanced and Shelly full of worry.

The adult walked past them, its long curved toes clicking on the concrete. The animal paused in front of Shelly, who stayed crouched by the juvenile, behind a steel box. The juvenile was exposed, and Shelly's hand was still on the collar, in clear view. The adult raised its head, and sniffed the air. The adult's big head was very close to her hand, but it could not see her because of the junction box. A tongue flicked out, tentatively.

Sonic reached for a gas grenade, plucked it from his belt, held his thumb on the pin, and- Mighty reached out suddenly and out a restraining hand on his arm. Sonic looked at him confused. Then Mighty shook his head, and nodded towards Shelly.

She wasn't wearing her mask.

Sonic slowly set the grenade down, and reached for the shock prod. The adult was still very close to Shelly.

Shelly eased the leather strap off. The metal buckle clinked on the concrete. The adult's head jerked fractionally, and then cocked to one side, curious. It was moving forward again to investigate, when the little juvenile squeaked happily and scampered away. The adult remained by Shelly. Then finally it turned, and walked back to the center of the nest.

Sonic hurried to Shelly, he grabbed her arms, "Oh chaos are you alright?"

She nodded, her hands were shaking, "Yeah, just a little shaken up that's all." she smiled.

Mighty gave a long exhalation. "Chaos, can we count those damn eggs now?"

"Yes," Sonic said, "I think we can finally get some work done now."

* * *

><p><strong>And here is another!<strong>

**Oh chaos...*look of horror* I'm slowly killing Shadow! *Wails* I'm such a terrible person!**

**Anywho :)**

**I had fun with this one. I got to write from a Big Hammond perspective. :) I thought. "Hmm, what would _I _think if I were a rich, annoying, abosutely crazy old man who wanted to build a dinosaur park?" And that is what I got. I like the idea how Hammond found no fault in himself and just others. Now he's determined to make a new park, with no mistakes. Lol, he is soooo stubborn.**

**Anyway, probably two more chapters to go, they will be probably extememly short, or maybe not. Who knows?**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you soon for the next one!**


	28. Destroying The World

Chapter 27

**Destroying the World**

In the phosphorescent green glow of the night-vision goggles, Sonic peered down into the room from the ledge, looking at the first nest. It was made of mud and straw, formed into a broad, shallow basket shape. He counted the remains of fourteen eggs. Of course he couldn't count the actual shells from this distance, and in any case they were long since broken and scattered over the floor, but he was able to count the indentations in the mud. Apparently, the raptors made their nests shortly before the eggs were laid, and the eggs left a permanent impression in the mud. He saw evidence that at least one had broken. He credited thirteen animals.

The second nest was broken in half. However, Sonic estimated it had contained nine eggshells. The third nest had fifteen eggs, but it appeared that three eggs had been broken early.

"What's the total?" Mighty whispered.

"Thirty-four born," Sonic said.

"And how many do you see?"

Sonic shook his head. "Can't tell." The animals were running all over the cavernous interior space, darting in and out of the light.

"I've been watching," Shelly said, shining her light down at her notepad. "You'd have to take photos to be sure, but the snout markings of the infants are all different. My count if thirty-three."

"And juveniles?"

"Twenty-two. But, Sonic – do you notice anything funny about them?"

"Like what?" Sonic whispered.

"How they arrange themselves spatially. They're falling into some kind of pattern or arrangement in the room."

Sonic frowned. He said, "It's pretty dark…."

"No, look. Look for yourself. Watch the little ones. When they are playing, they tumble and run every which way. However, in between, when the babies are standing around, notice how they orient their bodies. They face wither that wall, or the opposite wall. It's like they line up."

"I don't know, Shelly. You think there's a colony metastructure? Like bees?"

"No, not exactly," she said. "It's more subtle than that. It'a just a tendency."

"And the babies do it?"

"No. They _all _do it. The adults do it, too. Watch them. I'm telling you, they line up."

Sonic frowned. It seemed as if she was right. The animals engaged in all sorts of behavior, but during pauses, moments when they were watching or relaxing, they seemed to orient themselves in particular ways, almost as if they were invisible lines on the floor.

"Hmmm," Sonic said, he looked around, "Maybe there is a breeze…"

Shelly shook her head, "I don't feel one."

"So what are they doing? Some kind of social organization expressed as spatial structure?"

"That doesn't make sense," she said. "Because they all do it."

Mighty flipped up his watch. "I knew this would come in handy one day. Wasn't expecting for dinosaurs but…" Beneath the watch face, was a compass.

Sonic said, "You have much use for that in court?"

"I wish," Mighty shook his head. "My wife gave it to me," he explained, "for my birthday." He peered at the compass for a moment. "Well," he said. "they're not lined up according to anything…I guess they're sort of northeast – southwest, something close to that."

Shelly said, "Maybe they're hearing something, turning their heads so they can hear…."

Sonic frowned,

"Or maybe it's just ritual behavior," she said. "Species – specific behavior that serves to identify them to one another. But maybe it doesn't have any broader meaning." Shelly sighed, she threw her arms in the air before bringing them down, and rubbing her eyes, "Or maybe they're just weird. Maybe dinosaurs are weird. Perhaps it's a kind of communication?"

Sonic was thinking the same thing. Bees could communicate spatially, by doing a kind of dance. Perhaps the dinosaurs could do the same thing.

Mighty watched them and said, "Why don't they go outside?"

"They're mostly nocturnal." Sonic said.

"Yes, but it almost seems like they're hiding."

Sonic shrugged. In the next moment, the infants began to squeak and hop excitedly. The adults watched curiously for a moment.

"What are they doing?" Mighty asked.

Sonic said, "I don't -"

Suddenly, with hoots and cries that echoed in the dark cavernous space, all the dinosaurs wheeled and ran, heading down the concrete tunnel, into the darkness beyond.

* * *

><p>Knuckles was sitting quietly in the jeep. He listened to the sounds around him, the sounds of the park, the ocean crashing against the cliff, the dinosaurs roaring and calling out to one another. He could hear the wind blowing through the landscape, rustling the grass, he could hear the hiss of volcanic steam, and smell the faint scent of sulfur.<p>

Oh, how badly he wanted to forget this place. But Jurassic Park would be forever imprinted in his mind, and imprinted into the world. Nothing would be the same, but he could try to go back, perhaps to Africa. He would go back to Africa and try forgetting. Maybe even DownUnder, he heard the weather was nice there this time of year.

He opened his eyes and looked at his watch, it had been twenty-eight minutes since Grant and the others had dived into the hole. Daylight was fading fast, they'd better hurry up, and get the hell out of there soon. Raptors were nocturnal and when night falls, things were going to get even more risky then they were now.

"-uckles?"

Knuckles reached forward and grabbed they radio, "Muldoon here."

"Knuckles, it's me Silver," the radio crackled.

"Silver, what do you need?"

"Got- news"

Knuckles sighed, "Ah, repeat that, did you say you have news?"

"-y-es"

"Alright,"

There was a pause, "Knuckles…I've got some bad news."

* * *

><p>Chasing the dinosaurs was difficult. Following the curves and slopes on concrete, Sonic suddenly burst out through a cavernous opening, and found himself standing on the beach, looking in awe at the Pacific Ocean. All around him, the young velociraptors were scampering and kicking in the sand. But, one by one, the animals moved back into the shade of the palm trees at the edge of the mangrove swamp, and there they stood, lines up in their peculiar fashion, watching the ocean. They stared fixedly to the south.<p>

Shelly and Mighty burst out of the cave. Sonic had run considerably faster than they had, by means because he was the faster runner, and had gotten out of the cave system before they did. They slowed down and stopped next to Sonic.

"What are they doing?" Mighty said, "I don't get it,"

"I don't, either." Sonic said, "except that they clearly don't like the sun." It wasn't a very sunny beach; a light mist blew, and the ocean was hazy. But why had they suddenly left the nest? What had brought the entire colony out of hiding and onto the beach?

Mighty flipped up the dial on his watch, and looked the way the animals were standing. "Northeast – southwest. Same as before." He said.

Behind the beach, deeper into the woods, they heard the hum of the electric fence. "At least we know how they get outside the fence." Shelly said.

"And how we never noticed them," Mighty added, "There are no motion sensors out here."

Then they heard the throb of marine diesels, and through the mist they saw a ship appearing in the south. A large freighter, it slowly moved north.

"So that's why they came out?" Mighty said.

Sonic nodded. "They must have heard it coming."

As the freighter passed, all the animals watched it, standing silent except for the occasional chirp or squeak. Sonic was stumped by the coordination of their behavior, the way they moved and acted as a group. But perhaps it was not really so mysterious. In his mind, he reviewed the sequence of events that had begun in the cave.

First the infants had been agitated. Then the adults had noticed. And finally all the animals had stampeded to the beach. That sequence seemed to imply that the younger animals, with keener hearing, had detected the boat first. Then the adults had led the troop out into the beach. And as Sonic looked, he saw that the adults were in charge now. There was a clear spatial organization along the beach, and as the animals settled down, it was not loose and shifting, the way it had been inside. Rather, it was quite regular, almost regimented. The adults were spaced every ten yards or so, a cluster of infants surrounded each adult. The juveniles were positioned between, and slightly ahead of the adults.

But Sonic also saw that all the adults were not equal. There was a female with a distinctive strip along her head, and she was in the very center of the group and it ranged along the beach. That same female had stayed in the center of the nesting area, too. He guessed that, like certain monkey troops, the raptors were organized around a matriarchal pecking order, and that this striped animal was the alpha female of the colony. The males, he saw, were arranged defensively at the perimeter of the group.

But unlike monkeys, which were loosely and flexibly organized, the raptors settled into a rigid arrangement – almost a military formation, it seemed. Then, too, there was the oddity of the northeast-southwest spatial orientation. That itself was beyond Grant.

Paleontologists had been digging up bones for so long that they ad forgotten how little information could be gleaned from a skeleton. Bones could give you a gross appearance of an animal, height, maybe the weight. It might tell you about the muscles attached, and therefore something about crude behavior of the animal during life. They might give you clues to diseases that affected the none. But a skeleton was a poor thing, really, from which to try and deduce the total behavior of an organism. It just was not possible. You could dig up bones of a skunk and never would not know of the special gland that releases that horrible scent. Bones were just limited to what they could tell you.

Since bones were all the paleontologist had, bones were what they used. Like other paleontologists, Sonic had become and expert at working with bones. And somewhere along the way, he had started to forget the unprovable possibilities – that the dinosaurs might be truly different animals, that they might possess behavior and social life organized along lines that were utterly mysterious to their later, mammalian descendants. That, since the dinosaurs were fundamentally birds-

"Oh, my, God," Sonic said.

He stared at the raptors, ranged along the beach in a rigid formation, silently watching the boat. And he suddenly understood what he was looking at.

"Those animals" Mighty said, shaking his head, "must really want to escape here."

"No," Sonic said, 'They don't want to escape at all."

"They don't?"

"No," Sonic said. "They want to migrate."

* * *

><p>"Migrating?" Mighty said, "They want to migrate?"<p>

"Migrating!" Shelly said. "That's fantastic!"

"Yes," Sonic said. He was grinning.

Shelly said, "Where do you suppose they want to go?"

"I don't know," Sonic said.

Suddenly, big helicopters burst through the fog, thundering and wheeling over the landscape, their underbellies heavy with armament. The raptors scattered in alarm as one of the helicopters circled back, following the line of the surf, and then moved to land on the beach. A door was flung open and soldiers in olive uniforms came running toward them. Sonic heard the rapid babble in Spanish and saw that Muldoon was already aboard with the kids. One of the soldiers said in English, "Please, you will come with us. Please, there is not time here!"

"What are you talking about?" Mighty demanded.

"What's happening?" Shelly said, her voiced raised over the sound of the chopper.

Sonic looked back at the beach where the raptors had been, but they were gone. All the animals had vanished. It was as if they had never existed. The soldiers were tugging at him, Shelly grabbed his hand, and he allowed himself to be led beneath the thumping blades and climbed through the big door. Knuckles leaned over and shouted into Sonic's ear, "They want us out of here now. They're going to do it now!"

The soldiers pushed Sonic, Shelly, and Mighty into seats, and helped them clip on the harnesses. Tails and Cream sat on right side of Sonic. They waved smiling. Sonic suddenly saw how young they were, and how brave. They had been through a tough weekend, but they made it through, now they were exhausted. Cream was yawning, and starting you Sonic as a pillow rest. Tails was doing likewise on the other side or her.

"We'd thought we'd never find you," the young fox said.

Sonic just smiled.

An officer came toward Grant and shouted, "_Señor_ : are you in charge?"

"No," Sonic said. "I'm not in charge."

"Who is in charge, please?"

"I don't know."

The officer went to Mighty, and asked the same question: "Are you in charge?"

"No," Mighty said.

The officer looked at Shelly, but said nothing to her. The door was left open as the helicopter lifted away from the beach, and Sonic leaned out to see if he could catch a last look at the raptors, but then the helicopter was above the palm trees, moving north over the island.

Sonic leaned across the aisle toward Knuckles and shouted, "What about the others?"

Knuckles shouted, "They've already taken off Silver, Amy, Hammond and some workmen. Charmy is on another helicopter, he is hanging in there. They're saying he should make it."

"What about Malcolm?" Sonic said.

Knuckles shook his head.

Sonic was so tired; he did not feel much of anything. Exhaustion had finally caught up with him. However, He did look down for a moment, briefly mourning. Then he turned away, and looked back out the door. It was getting dark now, and in the fading light he could barely see the little rex, with bloody jaws, crouched over a hadrosaur by the edge of the lagoon and looking up at the helicopter and roaring as it passed by.

Somewhere behind them they heard explosions, and then ahead they saw another helicopter wheeling through the mist over the visitor center, and a moment later the building burst in a bright orange fireball. Cream began to cry, Sonic pun and arm around here, and Tails tried to get her not to look, but even he had tears in his eyes.

Shelly, Knuckles and Mighty all stared out the door. Their eyes were blank and expressions solemn, as they watched the visitor center go up on flames.

Sonic was staring down at the ground, and he had a last glimpse of the hypsilphodonts, leaping gracefully as gazelles, moments before another explosion flared bright beneath them. The last creature Sonic saw was the adult Tyrannosaur standing by the waterfall were it had passed out, it looked up at the chopper. And Sonic felt a pang of sympathy for this mighty creature, the king of this island. Sonic stared at it one last time as roared, and was lost in a ball of fire.

The helicopter gained altitude, and then moved east, out over the ocean.

Sonic sat back in his seat. He thought of the dinosaurs standing on the beach, and wondered where they would migrate if they could, and he realized he would never know, and he felt sad and relieved in the same moment.

The officer came forward again, bending close to his face. "Are you in charge?"

"No," Sonic said.

"Please, _señor, _who is in charge?"

"Nobody," Sonic said.

The helicopter gained speed as it headed toward the mainland. It was cold now, and the soldiers' muscled door closed. As they did, Sonic looked back just once, and saw the island against a deep purple sky and sea, cloaked in a deep mist that blurred the white-hot explosions that burst rapidly, one after another, until it seemed the entire island was glowing, a diminishing bright spot in the darkening night.

* * *

><p><strong>And Jurassic Park is history! Last chapter incoming!<strong>


	29. The Aftermath

Chapter 28

**Epilogue**

**The Aftermath**

Days went by. The government was polite, and put them up in a nice hotel in San José. They were free to come and go, and call whomever they wished. But they were not permitted to leave the country.

Mighty Gennaro had a change of attitude upon reaching San José, and was doing everything in his power to help them get home. "I've got connections in Washington," he had said, "I'm going to set things right. We're not going to stay here long I promise." He was busy most days, making calls to his contacts in Washington, trying to speed up the waiting as much as he could.

On top of that, each day a young man from the American Embassy came to visit them, to ask if they needed anything, and to explain that Washington was doing everything it could to hasten their departure. But the plain fact was that and ecological disaster had been narrowly averted. The government of Costa Rica felt it had been misled and deceived by Big Hammond and his plans for the island. Under the circumstances, the government was not disposes to release survivors in a hurry. They did not even permit the burial of Shadow Malcolm. They simply waited.

Each day it seemed to Sonic, he was taken to another government office, where another courteous, intelligent government officer questioned him. They made him go over his story, again and again. How Sonic met Big Hammond. What Sonic knew about the project. How Sonic had received the fax from New York. Why Sonic had gone to the island. What had happened on the island.

The same details, again and again, day after day. The same story.

For a long time, Sonic thought they must believe he was lying to them, and that there was something they wanted him to tell, although he could not imagine what it was. Yet, in some odd way, they seemed to be waiting.

He was sitting by around the pool, his feet in the water, when a glimmer of metal whizzed by his head and landed in the pool. Suddenly Shelly sat down next to him, plopping her feet into the water. Splashing little shimmering droplets onto her fur. He immediately sensed the mood. "Alright what's wrong?"

"I thought you hated water."

"I'm not swimming in it." He said.

"But your feet are in the water." She said.

"So are yours, what's your point?"

"You hate water." She mumbled.

"Quit avoiding my question," he said, "What's wrong?"

There was a long silence, then, "I called David."

"You're fiancé?"

"Yeah," she sighed.

"What about him?"

"He's a jerk." She said.

"…"Sonic remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

Shelly bit her lip, "I called him. I wanted to let him know, I wouldn't be home for awhile, but I was okay, you know." She sniffed angrily. "When he answered the phone, I catch him in a 'steamy' conversation with another woman. Therefore, I called off the wedding. If he's going to play like that while I'm away, he's not the guy for me."

Sonic suddenly had a vague idea what the piece of metal was earlier. He looked at the pool and saw the engagement ring sitting on the bottom, "Oh, Shelly, I'm sorry," he said, as he wrapped an arm around her. "You don't deserve something like that."

She leaned smiled weakly, "I wasn't ready to be married anyway…" she looked off, "I'd rather dig up some more fossilized bones…But of course after the island…"

"Shell…"

"Besides," she leaned against him, "I've got you."

Sonic blinked, "But…we're not, a, erm, you know."

She closed her eyes, and smiled, "I know." She said, "I just need you here, beside me, as a loyal friend. That's all I'll ever get from you, but that's all I'll ever need."

Sonic smiled slightly, and leaned against her. They sat there for some time, watching Cream and Tails play and laugh in the pool. Splashing each other and swimming around.

An American bird walked up in khakis shorts. "We've never met," the American said. "My name is Marty Guitierrez. I'm a researcher here, at the Carara station."

Sonic nodded, "You're the one who found the original specimen of the _Procompsognathus,_ and one of _your_ associates sent me an x-ray."

"That's right, yes." Guitierrez sat next in a pool chair to him. "You must be eager to go home."

"Yes," Sonic said. "I would like to get back to my dig."

"We only have a few days left before winter sets in," Shelly said, "In Montana, you know, the first snow usually come in August."

Guitierrez said, " Is that why the Hammond Foundation supported northern digs? Because intact genetic material from dinosaurs was more likely to be recovered from cold climates?"

"That's what we presume, yes."

The parrot nodded, "He is a clever man, Big Hammond."

Sonic said nothing. And Guitierrez sat back in the pool chair.

"The authorities won't tell you," Guitierrez said finally, "Because they are afraid, and perhaps almost resentful of you, for what you have done. But something very peculiar is happening in the rural regions."

"Biting the babies?"

"No, thankfully, that had stopped. However, something else. This spring, in the Ismaloya section, which is to the north, some unknown animals ate the crops in a very peculiar manner. They moved each day, in a straight a line – almost as straight as an arrow – from the coast, into the mountains, into the jungle.

Sonic sat upright. He looked at Shelly then back at the American.

"Like a migration," Guitierrez said. "Wouldn't you say?"

"What crops?" Shelly asked.

"Well, it was odd. They would only eat agama beans and soy, and sometimes chickens."

Sonic nodded, "Foods rich in lysine. What happened to these animals?"

"Presumably," Guitierrez said. "They entered the jungles. In any case, they have not been found. Of course, it would be difficult to search for them in the jungle. A search party could spend years in the Ismaloya mountains, with nothing to show for it."

"And we are being kept here because…"

Guitierrez shrugged. "The government is worried. Perhaps there are more animals. More trouble. They are feeling cautious."

" Do you think there are more animals?" Sonic said.

"I can't say. Can you?"

"No," Sonic said. "I can't say."

"But you suspect?"

Sonic nodded. "Possibly there are. Yes."

"I agree."

Guitierrez pushed up from his chair. He waved to Cream and Tails, playing in the pool. "Probably they will send the children home," he said. "There is no reason not to do that." He put on is sunglasses. "Enjoy your stay with us, Dr. Grant. Dr. Sattler. It is a lovely country here."

Sonic said, "You're telling me, we're not going anywhere?"

"None of us is going anywhere, Dr. Grant," Guitierrez said, smiling. And then he turned, and walked back toward the entrance of the hotel.

* * *

><p><strong>Two in one day, you guys are spoiled. :)<strong>

**And that's it! That's the end!**

**Omi-gosh I'm done!**

**Or am i?**


	30. Alternate Ending

**Okay, I lied. lol. For those who didn't care for the other ending, here is a different one!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 29<p>

**The Alternate Ending**

_The entire island was glowing, a diminishing bright spot in the darkening night…._

Sonic opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. The fan slowly rotated in clockwise rotation, making him dizzy as his eyes followed the blades. He sat up, rubbing his forehead, "Oh man what happened?"

He looked around, squinting as the morning light poured through the living room window. There was a bowl of popcorn and DVD's stacked on the floor.

Oh. That's right.

He had kidnapped – erm – talked Shads in for a movie night. He must have fallen asleep after the last movie then. Sonic picked up the first DVD and stared at the case.

"So the whole thing was just a dream?"

He rubbed his eyes, "Oh so not cool man, I really need to lay off on the late night soda and chili dogs." He looked around; the black hedgehog was nowhere to be found. "Hmm, must have left."

He stood and slipped on his shoes, before racing out the door to find Shadow. As he ran he thought, _Man totally sucks I didn't have my speed in my dream, I so would have out raced that Rex."_

It didn't take him long to find Shad's. The ebony hedgehog was on the balcony of his apartment. Drinking coffee and looking crankier than usual.

"Hi-yah Shad's!" Sonic said, coming to a perfect stop on the balcony railing, before sitting down on it, swinging his legs like an immature child. Not like he acted like that before though.

Shadow, unaffected by Sonic's sudden appearance took a sip of his coffee and looked up, "I swear, faker. If you _ever _make me watch one of those, cheesy films again. I will kill you."

Sonic smirked, "Ah why, did it give you nightmares."

Shadow glared, " No,"

Sonic laughed, "You look like you had nightmares."

"I do not have nightmares Sonic the-"

"I know, I know, you're the Ultimate Lifeform, you don't get nightmares."

"And don't you forget it!

Suddenly, Silver appeared through a blazing beam of light, nearly knocking Sonic off the balcony, "Hey guys, hey guys! Guess what!"

Sonic grabbed the railing before falling off, "Woah whoa Silver, even _I _can't keep up with how fast your talking."

Shadow winced as the outburst of Silver's voice, "Must all of you come and bother me?"

"Yes," Sonic smirked.

Shadow growled, he was debating whether or not to throw his coffee cup and the obnoxious blue hedgehog, but decided against it. He still had coffee in there, and right now he need it more than the satisfaction of something hitting Sonic in the face.

"Guys, look at this," Silver said, unrolling a newspaper, "I just warped here from Costa Rica, and guess what? The just built this new park, it has dinosaurs in it! Isn't that cool! Uh…guys?"

Sonic gulped, and slowly looked at Shadow, who stared right back.

"Guy's what's the matter?"

* * *

><p><strong>Is that better? Thanks for reading this far. Go to the next chapte and recieve my thanks!<strong>


	31. THANK YOU!

**THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!**

**I can't believe all of those people out there who followed this story to the very end. 29! 29 chapters people! 29 chapters of my story written only for you guys. I am so touched by you guys. You have been the BEST support through all of this. This means so much to me, and I can now proudly say this is the _first _story I have sucessfully finished and it is all because of you guys. Thank you thank you so much! I just love you all.**

**Dedicated:**

**To, ShadowEmpress76**

**You have been the biggest support to me for Jurassic Park and I want to thank you for that. You came in on the moment I was ready to quit and pulled my on my feet again, and you were there when the laptop fried and I lost everything, you encouraged my the whole way through. And this is my thanks. I just love you so much for that.**

**Also to all of my reviewers.**

**You know who you are, and I want to thank you for all of your support.**

**Disclaimer:**

**This story was a nonprofit, and was written for enteraiment, and my own personal amusment.**

**I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters, they belong to Sega. **

**I do not own Jurassic Park the book, that belongs to the amazing writer Micheal Crichton. My inspirationa and one of my favorite authors.**

**I also do not own Jurassic Park the film that belongs to Steven Spielberg.**

**But I do own my imagination! :D**

**Well thank you again. But you all know me! This isn't over yet, stay tuned for the next installment in the Jurassic Park series! The Lost World! A whole new adventure awaits on another island so grab your popcorn and be ready!**

**Thank You For Reading Sonic Jurassic!**

**I'll see you soon!**


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